Capodanno

His first win came at Punchestown in April 2022, and the excitement around him at that point was considerable. Willie Mullins, who trained him at the time, described him as a potential Gold Cup horse — the very pinnacle of jump racing — and said that simply getting the tactics right had unlocked something in him. It was the kind of talk that follows a horse with real ceiling. But that ceiling has proved frustratingly hard to reach on a regular basis. The Cheltenham win in January 2024 showed what he is capable of on his best day: a clean, controlled performance in a small field, ridden by Mark Walsh to suit the horse rather than the occasion. Since then, though, he has not won in 6 races, and his last result — a distant eighth — offered little encouragement.

Now trained by Neil Mulholland at Limpley Stoke in Wiltshire, Capodanno has moved yards since his Mullins days. Mulholland has had a productive season, sending out 60 winners, and he has been measured in his expectations with this horse. When Capodanno ran in the Betfair Chase on his seasonal return and was well beaten, the trainer was candid — it was probably too ambitious a target first time out, but no harm was done and options remain. That kind of honesty is worth something.

In Class 1 races — the very top tier — Capodanno has won 1 from 6, which is actually a reasonable ratio at that level. The frustration is that his recent form, with no win in over 27 months, raises the question of whether that Cheltenham performance was a last hurrah or simply a reminder of what this horse still has in him on the right day. With a short break behind him and a trainer who clearly believes there are more chapters to be written, the answer may still be coming.