Kaka's Cousin

Kaka's Cousin got off the mark at Catterick Bridge on 28 December 2025, and followed that up with another win at Kelso in February 2026. Those two victories came in Class 4 company — the solid, competitive middle tier of the sport — where he has now won 2 of his 3 races at that level, a two-in-three conversion rate that tells you he is not just scraping through. He is genuinely good at this grade. What makes it more intriguing is the trainer's aside that before joining the yard, Kaka's Cousin ran in point-to-points — amateur cross-country races that act as a feeder route into professional racing — and was only narrowly beaten by a horse that has since won at a decent level in Ireland. In other words, even his defeats have come with a quality footnote.

The O'Neill yard has been in fine form this season, sending out 51 winners, and a horse like this — lightly raced, progressive, and still unexposed — is exactly the kind of animal a busy, confident yard can do serious things with. His recent form reads 1-2-1-4-1 from the oldest run to the most recent, which shows a horse who wins, runs well, wins again, has an off day, and then wins once more. That is the pattern of a horse who is trying hard and improving rather than flukeing his way to results.

He raced just one day ago, so he is very much in the thick of it right now. Whether the yard push him up in class or find another opportunity at Class 4 will be telling. If he can back up what he has already shown, there is every reason to think Kaka's Cousin is a horse worth following through the spring.