Calico

The Cheltenham angle is worth dwelling on. He has won there twice from 8 visits — once in October 2024 and again in October 2025 — and Dan Skelton, his trainer, has been candid about why that race matters so much to the horse's season. After the 2025 win, Skelton pointed out that it probably shouldn't be possible for a nine-year-old to produce a career best, but that is exactly what Calico did. The trainer knew the conditions were ideal — normal, fast ground on a track the horse loves — and had prepared him specifically for that day. Only a handful of races, Skelton said, are worth more to this horse's year than that Cheltenham fixture in October.

What makes the timeline fascinating is the gap in between. Calico was beaten in a photo finish at Cheltenham's November Meeting in 2022, and Skelton later revealed it took the horse almost a full year to recover — not from injury, but from the sheer effort of that run, compounded by the fact the handicapper raised his rating and the competition stiffened. Racing can be quietly brutal like that: put in too much, and you pay for it in ways that don't show up on a racecard. The win at Cheltenham in October 2025 was, in a sense, the payoff for a year of patience.

He followed that up with another top-level win at Ascot in November 2025, ridden as usual by Harry Skelton — trainer Dan's brother — who has partnered Calico in 19 of his 30 races and ridden 3 of his 5 winners. The yard at Alcester has been in brilliant form this season, sending out 194 winners, and Calico is one of its more reliable performers at the right trip and on the right ground. Skelton has been refreshingly honest about the limits, though: the Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival is probably a step too far, and the plan is to aim at a slightly smaller target there instead. At ten, Calico is not chasing glory at any price — he is being placed where he can win, and that, this season at least, has been working.