Witch Hunter

The headline is that this is a horse that has reached the very top level of British racing. A Class 1 win at Newbury in August 2023, followed by a Class 2 at Ascot just weeks earlier, showed that Witch Hunter belongs in elite company when everything clicks. Those are not soft wins in forgettable races — they are the kind of results that confirm genuine quality. And yet the horse has also spent much of its career grinding away at Class 2 level, winning 3 from 25 at that grade, which speaks to a horse that competes consistently without always finding the line first.

What really stands out is the record on normal ground conditions. Four wins from 16 races on a standard surface — that is a 25% win rate, one win in every four starts, which is exceptional for any horse at this level. When the ground is in its favour, Witch Hunter becomes a very different proposition. The same logic applies at Wolverhampton, where the horse has won 2 of just 4 races — a specialist record that any owner would notice when the entries come around.

Jockey Sean Levey has been the regular partner, riding in 22 of those 52 races and picking up 3 wins together — winning roughly 1 in every 7 when paired. The horse is trained by Richard Hannon at his Wiltshire yard, an operation that has sent out 109 winners already this season, so this is a well-resourced team used to competing at the highest level.

Most tellingly, Witch Hunter is still very much in the game. The horse raced just one day ago and won at Newcastle on the all-weather track in January 2026 — a Class 2, the most recent in a pair of wins at the same course just months apart. Recent form reads 9-8-4-1-5-3, with that win sandwiched between some disappointing efforts, which is exactly the profile of a horse that needs everything to fall right. When it does, it delivers.