Jonbon

What makes that even more striking is the sheer frequency. This is not a horse that peaks once a season. Since December 2024, Jonbon has won five Class 1 races — including two at Ascot in the space of a month at the start of 2026. His trainer, Nicky Henderson, one of the most experienced and decorated figures in the sport, has described winning two top-level races in a single month as "incredible", which tells you something. Henderson's yard at Upper Lambourn has sent out 85 winners this season alone, and he still singles Jonbon out as something very special. "You don't get many like him," he said after the February Ascot win. That is not something a man in his position says lightly.

The one course where Jonbon goes from brilliant to almost mythical is Aintree, where he has won all four races he has ever run there — a perfect four from four. Courses suit some horses and not others, for reasons that are often hard to pin down, but a 100% record over four visits is about as clear a signal as the sport ever sends.

He is partnered most often by jockey Nico de Boinville, and between them the numbers are remarkable: 9 wins from 13 races, winning roughly 7 in every 10 times they race together. Recent form shows two second places sandwiched around wins, with a short break of 43 days since his last run. Henderson has been open about the fact that Jonbon had back-to-back tough races at Ascot, yet the horse came out of both looking fresh. "He still wants to fight," the trainer said after Cheltenham. "I've never seen him jump better." The debate around his next target — most likely a major Festival race — is one of the more enjoyable conversations in British racing right now, because a horse with a record like this makes it worth paying attention to whatever he does next.