Wendigo

Wendigo is a seven-year-old trained by Jamie Snowden at his yard in Lambourn, a village that has produced more than its share of serious racehorses. Snowden has been in fine form this season — 82 winners sent out already — and it is clear he has always regarded Wendigo as one of his best. He has spoken about being deliberately patient with the horse, holding back as a hurdler because he always believed Wendigo would be better when he switched to fences, the larger obstacles that some horses find intimidating but which the best horses learn to treat as a natural rhythm. The plan appears to be paying off. A fifth-place finish in last season's Albert Bartlett — one of the most prestigious staying races for young horses at the Cheltenham Festival — came with bad luck attached: Wendigo was hampered two from home and his trainer believes he would otherwise have finished third.

The partnership with jockey Gavin Sheehan has been central to all of this. Together they have won 6 of their 13 races — nearly half, a win rate of 46% — which is a remarkable alignment between horse and rider. Jockeys and horses take time to understand each other, and those numbers suggest this pair have found something that works.

The recent record makes the coming weeks genuinely exciting. A Class 1 win at Newbury in November 2025 was followed by a Class 1 preparation run at Ayr in January 2026, a trip the team made specifically because it was the only available left-handed three-mile race before Cheltenham — Wendigo has shown a tendency to jump slightly left, and getting him more experience over fences in the right direction mattered. The destination the trainer has been pointing toward throughout all of this is the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival — one of the most important races of the jumps season. Wendigo is currently being aimed there, with his career earnings, his big-race experience, and his love of wet ground all suggesting he will be competitive when the Festival arrives.