Newton Tornado

Curtis, who operates out of Newport in Pembrokeshire and has already sent out 18 winners this season, has been patient with Newton Tornado from the start. He describes him as a horse who was backward when he bought him — raw, unfinished, needing time — and his career arc reflects exactly that. He did not get his first win until April 2025 at Ffos Las, which is practically a home track for a Pembrokeshire yard, but since then he has added a second victory over three miles at Doncaster in January 2026. Both wins have come over that same trip, and over fences, and the pattern is becoming clear: he is a stayer who jumps well and improves as the distances get longer.

Curtis is candid about the form figures not telling the whole story. He made an uncharacteristic mistake at Cheltenham first time out over fences, on a day when he was going well, and was caught out by unusually fast ground at Newbury on another occasion. Strip those away and the record looks considerably better. He has won 2 of his last 6 races, which is a healthy rate at this level, and the Doncaster win came on standard ground over three miles — exactly the conditions that suit him.

What makes Newton Tornado genuinely interesting right now is what comes next. Curtis has flagged the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival — a prestigious amateur riders' race run over three miles and six furlongs — as her primary target. That is a significant step up in distance and in occasion, but Curtis is not treating it as a leap in the dark. He believes he will stay the trip, and he has form with Festival targets, having previously sent out Haiti Couleurs to win there. Ben Jones, who has partnered Newton Tornado in 5 of his races and won on him, is likely to be in the plate again. For a horse who only recently started putting it all together, a Cheltenham Festival run would be a remarkable next chapter.