Smokey Malone

He is an 8-year-old trained by the mother-and-daughter team of Julia and Shelley Birkett, based in Newmarket, the heartland of British racing. Their yard has sent out 15 winners already this season, and Smokey Malone has been doing his share of the heavy lifting. He won at Southwell as recently as February 2026, and his recent form reads as well as anything in his career — two wins from his last six races, with a couple of placed efforts in between. For a horse who races at the lower end of the sport's prize-money structure, that kind of consistency is exactly what keeps a yard running.

The man who knows him best is jockey Dylan Hogan, who has ridden Smokey Malone in 46 of his 53 career races — an unusually loyal partnership. Together they have won 8 times, which works out at roughly 1 in every 5 rides. That is a solid return, and it suggests the two have developed a real understanding. When a jockey sticks with the same horse race after race, they learn the quirks, the rhythms, and the moments when to push — and that knowledge tends to show up in the results.

Over a distance of around a mile and three or four furlongs, Smokey Malone wins 2 from every 8 races — 25%, which is comfortably his best record at any trip. At that range he is patient enough to settle and strong enough to see it out. His career earnings of £74,000 won't be troubling the big-race prize funds, but they reflect a horse who has been competitive, reliable, and — at Southwell especially — genuinely hard to beat. He raced just yesterday, so there is clearly more to come.