Mister Cessna

The distance range of a mile and six furlongs to two miles seems to unlock the best of him. He's won two of the three races he's run over that sort of trip, which is a remarkable ratio, and it makes sense — this is a horse that needs time to find his stride and room to build momentum. Cramming him into a shorter race doesn't suit him.

Fergal O'Brien, who trains him at Withington in Gloucestershire, has had a big season — 90 winners from his yard, which is the output of a seriously well-run operation. O'Brien has been candid about Mister Cessna's journey: he admitted he threw the horse in at the deep end with an entry at Chepstow that didn't work out, and called it an embarrassment. What makes that honesty interesting is what followed — Mister Cessna bounced straight back to win at Ludlow in April 2025, and that redemption clearly meant something. O'Brien has since talked about giving the horse a shot at the Boodles if the entry comes off, which signals real ambition for where this horse could go.

Jonathan Burke has ridden him in six of his nine races and they've clicked — two wins together from those six, meaning Burke wins roughly one in every three races aboard him, a strong return for any partnership. His most recent win came at Uttoxeter in October 2025, and though the form figures since then read 7-4-6 — a run of below-par efforts — he raced just yesterday, keeping him race-sharp heading into whatever comes next.

At Class 4 level he's been dominant — two wins from three races at that grade. The question now is whether O'Brien pushes him up into bigger company. The trainer has already shown he's willing to dream a little with Mister Cessna. That Boodles mention suggests they might be about to find out just how good he is.