Skipper

His story started at Chelmsford in August 2024, where he broke his duck for the first time. Chelmsford is an all-weather track in Essex that runs year-round, and getting that first win on the board there is no small thing — it is a competitive venue that draws decent fields. From that point, Skipper has kept improving. His most recent win came at Redcar on the Yorkshire coast just five weeks ago, and with a race just yesterday, this is clearly a horse being kept busy while in good form — exactly what any trainer wants to do when a horse is in the mood to perform.

Behind him is Hamad Al Jehani, a Newmarket-based trainer who has sent out 18 winners already this season. Newmarket is the heartland of British flat racing — the town exists for horses — and a yard firing out winners at that rate knows what it is doing. Al Jehani clearly has Skipper well placed. Interestingly, the trainer had big things in mind for Skipper from early on, noting that the horse was by Calyx — a sire whose offspring have been making a real impression — and that he was worth keeping an eye on. That early confidence appears to have been well founded.

With a race yesterday and his last win only five weeks back, Skipper is in a purple patch. His recent form reading of 9-13-1-7-1-2 tells the full story — two finishes well down the field bookended by wins and a runner-up spot. That kind of inconsistency is common in horses finding their level, but the pattern of the last few runs points firmly upward. If the team can keep finding the right races for him, there is no obvious reason why he cannot add to his tally soon.