Jacks Parrot

His two career wins came in quick succession in spring 2024 — first at Uttoxeter in April, then at Perth later that same month. The Perth win was tight. The second horse got away from him on the home bend and looked like it might be too far gone to catch, but Jacks Parrot ground him down and got there. That kind of staying power on a sharp track is notable, because it tells you something about his stamina and his willingness to keep finding more when the race gets hard. He hasn't won since — that was 25 months ago — but the yard isn't hiding from that fact. They have a plan.

That plan centres on the Tommy Whittle Chase, a prestigious staying race run over extreme distances, and it is clearly the race the whole season has been built around. Jacks Parrot finished second in the same race last year off the same weight he carries now, which means he went agonisingly close to the biggest win of his career and has been given another shot at it. Greenall has been open about the fact that this is essentially the horse's equivalent of a Gold Cup — the race that defines his season. He ran over hurdles recently purely as a warm-up, a way of sharpening him up without the physical wear of a chase. The trainer also made clear that Jacks Parrot loves wet, muddy ground and stays well beyond three and a half miles — both of which point to a horse built for exactly this kind of mid-winter test.

Henry Brooke has ridden him in six of his 14 races and won twice from those, a win rate of 33% — strikingly better than the horse's overall record suggests. That partnership will matter if the big day arrives. The yard has been in fine form this season, sending out 43 winners, and with a horse who came so close twelve months ago, there is every reason to think Jacks Parrot is primed for another serious crack at the race that nearly made him.