El Champo

The overall career picture is solid rather than spectacular: 5 wins and 15 places from 35 races, a win rate of roughly 1 in every 7 outings for an 8-year-old. What that record does show is consistency — this is a horse that tends to be in and around the action even when it is not winning. The first career victory came at Kilbeggan in August 2023, and the most recent was at Listowel in September 2025, so El Champo has been finding the winner's enclosure at different tracks and in different conditions throughout its career.

The partnership with jockey P J O'Hanlon is worth noting. Together they have won 3 of their 11 races — that is better than 1 in 4, which comfortably outperforms El Champo's overall career average. When these two are paired up, something clicks.

Recent form tells a slightly different story. El Champo has not won in its last 6 races, and its best finishes across that spell are a third and a fourth, with three non-completions in between. That is a sequence that raises questions, though the horse remains active — it raced just yesterday — and the Rothwell yard is clearly in excellent health this season, having sent out 35 winners. A yard firing on all cylinders gives every horse in it a better chance, and a course specialist with a winning partnership already established is never one to dismiss entirely. The big question now is whether El Champo can rediscover the form that made it such a threat at Galway.