Johnnywho

Cheltenham is clearly his place. He has won 2 of his 5 races there, and for a horse who spends most of his time in the toughest tier of British racing — Class 1, the very top level — that record demands respect. Across his career, he has managed just 1 win from 10 races at that level, which tells you how hard it is. But that one Class 1 win came at Cheltenham, and that puts it in a different category entirely. Winning at the top level, at the most celebrated track in the country, at nine years old, is the kind of thing that defines a horse's legacy.

His partnership with jockey Jonjo O'Neill Jr is worth noting. The two have raced together 13 times, producing 3 wins — a win rate of 23%, or nearly 1 in every 4 races. In a sport where horse-and-jockey chemistry can be genuinely decisive, that's a meaningful number. O'Neill Jr is trained by his own father, Jonjo O'Neill Sr, alongside A J O'Neill — a family operation based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, that has sent out 53 winners already this season. A yard firing at that rate knows what it's doing.

Recent form tells an encouraging story too. Two wins from his last six races, including that Cheltenham success, show a horse in good heart rather than one fading with age. He's racing fit — last out just 19 days ago — and at nine years old, with that kind of class already on his CV, Johnnywho is precisely the sort of horse you'd want to follow into whatever comes next.