Lecky Watson

Trained by Willie Mullins at his yard in Muine Bheag, Co Carlow, Lecky Watson sits inside one of the most successful training operations in jump racing. Mullins has sent out 237 winners already this season alone — a number that almost defies belief — so there is no shortage of quality around this horse every morning. When Mullins runs a horse at Cheltenham, it is because he believes it belongs there, and Lecky Watson delivered on that faith.

The form since that Cheltenham win has been quieter — a couple of seventh-place finishes and an eighth in the last six races — but there is a significant caveat: this horse genuinely loves wet and muddy ground. On soft or heavy ground, the record reads 2 wins from 6 races, a win rate of 33%, or 1 in every 3. That is a meaningful edge. When the ground dries out, those numbers shrink. So the conditions on race day matter more for this horse than most.

Jockey Sean O'Keeffe has partnered Lecky Watson six times, winning once together — about a 1 in 6 hit rate, which is modest. But a Cheltenham Class 1 counts the same whether you win it by a nose or a distance, and that win is on the board. The horse has now had a 36-day break since last racing, which typically signals a trainer is waiting for the right opportunity rather than rushing back.

At 8 years old, with a Class 1 scalp already to its name and a clear preference for wet ground, Lecky Watson is the kind of horse that can easily be underestimated on a dry day — and feared on a muddy one.