Last Kingdom

Trained by Faye Bramley out of Lambourn in Berkshire — a yard that has sent out 19 winners this season — Last Kingdom broke his duck at Fairyhouse in April 2025. Trainer's assistant David Casey noted afterwards that the horse had simply grown up, jumping well and travelling smoothly under Mark Walsh. The pair have worked together 8 times, winning once, but Casey's remark about Last Kingdom potentially becoming "a Lartigue horse" was the more interesting signal. The Lartigue is a prestigious race at Listowel, and flagging it for a four-year-old is a quiet statement of ambition.

Five months later, that prediction looked sharp. At Listowel in September, cheekpieces on for the first time, Last Kingdom was a different animal. Jockey Paul Townend reported that the equipment sharpened the horse's jumping and helped him travel through the race with a fluency that had been missing. Townend committed early and was rewarded — Last Kingdom stayed on strongly to win. Faye Bramley confirmed the cheekpieces had triggered real improvement, and pointed out that running without them at Galway in between had left the horse looking lost.

Since that Listowel win eight months ago, Last Kingdom hasn't won again across six races, with recent finishes of ninth and nineteenth raising questions about whether that cheekpiece-fuelled improvement has levelled off or whether the horse simply hasn't found the right conditions since. He raced just yesterday, so the team clearly hasn't given up on finding the right spot for him. With Walsh aboard for 8 of his 15 career races, there's clearly a settled partnership — it just hasn't quite clicked as consistently as everyone would like. At five, Last Kingdom is still relatively lightly raced and physically maturing. The Listowel win proved what he can do when everything aligns.