Ma Jacks Hill

That first win came at Gowran Park on 3 October 2025, and it followed a procedure to correct a breathing problem — the kind of issue that can quietly rob a horse of its ability without anyone quite knowing why it's underperforming. Once the wind operation was done, something clicked. Jockey Jack Kennedy, who was in the saddle that day, noted that the horse had always shown promise at home but had been a disappointment in his earlier races on the track. That gap between how a horse works at home and how it performs in public is one of racing's great frustrations, and getting to the bottom of it matters enormously. Surgery, it seems, was the answer.

Trainer Gordon Elliott is candid that this horse's real future lies over fences. Elliott is one of the most powerful forces in Irish racing right now — his yard has sent out 209 winners this season alone, which is a remarkable volume — and when a trainer of that calibre says a horse is a chaser in the making, it's worth paying attention. Jumping fences is a different discipline entirely, demanding more athleticism and a different kind of courage from a horse, and there are animals who are simply built for it. Elliott believes Ma Jacks Hill is one of them.

His recent form — fifth, fifth, sixth, second, first, and then a distant eleventh in his most recent outing — suggests a horse that blows hot and cold, but context softens that picture. The eleventh came at Galway in what Kennedy described as bumping into a nice type, meaning the winner was simply a better horse on the day. He still ran his race. Kennedy also noted he'll be a nicer horse on faster, drier ground, which is a useful pointer for anyone following him. At six, with a wind op behind him and a trainer who clearly rates him highly, Ma Jacks Hill looks like a horse whose story is only just beginning.