El Bodon

Back-to-back victories at Kempton Park in December 2025 and February 2026, both in Class 2 races — which means top-tier British racing — suggest a horse who has found its ideal conditions and is thriving in them. Winning once at that level takes talent. Winning twice in quick succession at the same track points to something more specific: a horse who genuinely loves that particular surface and circuit. At Class 2 level, El Bodon has won 2 of its 6 races there, which works out at 1 in every 3 — a remarkable conversion rate when you consider the quality of opposition at that grade.

The career began with a first win at Lingfield Park back in June 2023, and it has taken time to develop into the horse it is now. That kind of gradual improvement is actually a good sign — it suggests there may still be more to come, rather than a horse who burst onto the scene and then stalled. The recent form reads 5-dash-1-1-4-8 going back through the last six runs, with the two wins sitting right at the heart of it and a fifth-place finish most recently keeping the form solid.

El Bodon is trained by Jane Chapple-Hyam at her yard in Dalham, Suffolk, and the operation is in fine shape this season — 25 winners already, which tells you this is not a yard sending horses out to make up the numbers. Chapple-Hyam has a reputation for placing horses cleverly, and El Bodon's back-to-back Kempton victories look like exactly that kind of patient, precise placement.

With a career earnings profile at Class 2 and a horse who raced just yesterday and remains active, the key question now is whether the team tries to push El Bodon up into even tougher company, or backs the horse to keep doing what it clearly does best. Given what Kempton has already produced, it would take a brave person to argue against going back there.