Jazzy Matty

The Cheltenham record is the heart of everything interesting about this horse. He won the Fred Winter in March 2023, came back to the same festival two years later and won again in March 2025 — a Class 1 race, the highest level in Britain, on the sport's biggest stage. His trainer Cian Collins, based out of Navan in County Meath, was barely able to contain himself afterwards, describing it as unbelievable to win on the big stage and adding that it hopefully shows the yard can get a horse ready for the biggest occasion. For a smaller Irish yard with one horse making the trip, that win clearly meant everything.

What makes Jazzy Matty particularly compelling is the way Collins talks about him. The trainer says he simply lights up when he arrives at Cheltenham — jumps cleanly, settles beautifully, and runs his race without missing a beat. On normal ground he wins roughly 1 in every 3 races, taking 2 of his 6 starts in those conditions, which is an impressive conversion rate. His regular jockey Danny Gilligan has ridden him to 2 wins from their 10 races together, the same 1-in-5 ratio as his overall record.

Away from Cheltenham, the recent form is quieter. Jazzy Matty has not won in his last six races, and his most recent finishes read 5th, 2nd, 6th, 5th, 12th — solid in patches but nothing spectacular. The second place in that sequence is worth noting, though: Collins revealed afterwards that it was heartbreaking, that the race went completely against him, and that the horse jumped flawlessly throughout. Sometimes a mid-table finishing position hides a genuinely good performance. He raced just one day ago and remains active, which means the story is still being written. What we know for certain is that when Cheltenham comes around, Jazzy Matty has a habit of turning up exactly when it matters most.