Kitzbuhel

The trainer is Willie Mullins, based in County Carlow, which is about as strong a starting point as horse racing offers. Mullins' yard has sent out 237 winners already this season alone — that is not a typo — making it one of the most prolific operations in the sport. From that formidable production line, Kitzbuhel has emerged as a genuinely top-level performer. It typically runs in Class 1 races, which are the biggest and most competitive races in Britain, and has won 1 of its 4 appearances at that level. That might sound modest until you consider the quality of the opposition in those fields — winning even once at that level puts a horse in rare company.

The recent form is what really turns heads. In its last six races, Kitzbuhel has won three of them, with the sequence reading 1-–-1-1-–-3. The two dashes represent races where it was pulled up or didn't finish, which in jump racing sometimes reflects a trainer managing a horse carefully rather than anything more alarming — and given what followed, that reads as shrewd planning. It won at Kempton on Boxing Day 2025, one of the most watched race days of the year in Britain, then went to Cheltenham on 11 March 2026 and won there too. Cheltenham is the sport's most hallowed venue. Winning there is not a small thing.

There is also a clear partnership driving these results. Jockey Paul Townend has ridden Kitzbuhel in 7 of its 9 races and won 4 of them together — that works out to winning roughly 4 in every 7 rides, which is an extraordinary hit rate between horse and rider at the top level. At Punchestown, where Kitzbuhel had its first career win in December 2024, the horse has since won 2 from 3 visits, suggesting it genuinely relishes the track. Last raced just 18 days ago, Kitzbuhel is active, in form, and by every measure a horse worth following closely.