Hotazhell

The headline moment of Hotazhell's career so far came at Doncaster on 26 October 2024, when it won a Class 1 race — one of the top races in Britain. Getting to the top table in racing and winning there is something most horses never manage, and Hotazhell did it with a performance that gave its trainer, Mrs John Harrington, every reason to think bigger. The Harrington yard, based in Moone, County Kildare, has been in brilliant form this season — 53 winners sent out already — and Hotazhell looks like one of its most exciting weapons heading into the summer.

The horse has a course that it particularly loves: The Curragh, Ireland's most famous flat track, where it has won 2 races from 5 visits. Win 2 from 5 anywhere at the top level is strong; at the track you race most often, it suggests the horse knows the place and thrives there. Jockey Shane Foley has been the ideal partner — together they have won 4 of their 9 races (44%), almost 1 in every 2. That kind of partnership is rare and tells you the horse trusts its rider. Foley has noted that Hotazhell can get a little keyed up before racing, so the team saddles it away from the main bustle and keeps a red hood on it just to keep it focused — small details that make the difference at the highest level.

What makes Hotazhell genuinely special, though, is its attitude. The trainer describes it as feisty and tough, a horse that wins its battles the hard way — not by sprinting clear, but by looking a rival in the eye and refusing to blink. That mentality showed last season when it ran creditably in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Irish Champion Stakes, two of the most prestigious races in the Irish calendar. The plan now is a return at Leopardstown in May before an ambitious tilt at the Breeders' Cup in America. This horse is going places.