Now Is The Hour

Trained by Gavin Cromwell out of Navan in County Meath, Now Is The Hour races for one of Irish jump racing's most productive yards — 94 winners sent out this season alone. That kind of operation runs deep, and Now Is The Hour has been one of its more reliable performers. Across 16 races in total, the horse has won 3 times and finished in the top three or four on 5 other occasions, a record that works out at roughly 1 win in every 5 races. Solid rather than spectacular, but there is a ceiling worth noting.

That ceiling arrived on 17 February 2024 at Haydock Park, where Now Is The Hour won a Class 1 race — one of the top races in Britain. That is a genuine mark of quality, and it came just weeks after a first career win at Fairyhouse in January of the same year. Two wins in the space of three weeks, at the highest level, suggested a horse hitting a purple patch at exactly the right time. Sean Flanagan was in the saddle for much of that run, and the numbers between them are striking: 2 wins from 6 races together works out at winning 1 in every 3, comfortably better than the horse's overall record.

More recently, Now Is The Hour won at Gowran Park in January 2026 — just two months ago — so this is an active, competitive horse with a current win on its CV. The last six runs read 5th, 1st, 4th, 8th, 3rd and a non-completion, which is the kind of form that rewards patience rather than panic. The bad days are there, but so is that Gowran win sitting right at the top of the recent record. At nine years old, with a Class 1 victory already banked and a clear preference for testing ground, Now Is The Hour remains a horse worth following whenever the forecast looks grim.