Strong Leader

And it really is the top level. Strong Leader has won three Class 1 races — the highest grade of race in Britain — at three different venues: Aintree in April 2024, Newbury in November 2024, and Wetherby in November 2025. That kind of consistency across different tracks and different seasons marks him out as a proper performer. He's not a horse who flukes a big day; he keeps showing up and delivering when it matters most.

The partnership with jockey Sean Bowen is worth highlighting. In 16 races together, they've won 6 times — that's winning 38% of the time, or well over 1 in every 3 rides. That's not luck; that's two very good athletes who clearly understand each other. Trainer Olly Murphy, based at Wilmcote in Warwickshire, has had a remarkable season with 146 winners sent out from the yard, and Strong Leader is one of his star turns. Murphy has been candid about the horse's preferences: he needs a left-handed track, doesn't fancy Cheltenham, and thrives on normal ground, where he's won 4 of 7 races — a 57% hit rate that is simply stunning for a horse operating at this grade. There have even been conversations about a trip to Ireland, with Leopardstown floated as a potential target.

Aintree is where Strong Leader has built something approaching a love affair — 2 wins from 5 visits to the Grand National track, a venue that famously exposes horses who are found wanting under pressure. Murphy described his Wetherby victory in November as "British jump racing from the back of the last" — three top jockeys going at it, and Strong Leader coming out on top. That's the horse in a nutshell: put him in a proper race, on the right track, in normal conditions, and he tends to find a way to win. At nine, with that record behind him and Olly Murphy already plotting his next move, there's clearly still more to come.