Skylight Hustle

Gordon Elliott trains Skylight Hustle out of his yard in Longwood, County Meath — a powerful operation that has already sent out 209 winners this season alone, which gives you a sense of the scale and quality of the setup. Elliott clearly thinks highly of this horse. He has admitted that Skylight Hustle disappointed him when it first ran at Fairyhouse in late 2024, but the horse has since turned things around sharply. It won at Fairyhouse on 29 November 2025, then followed up with a victory at Leopardstown on St Stephen's Day — one of the most competitive race days of the entire Irish year. Two wins in a month, at major tracks, against serious rivals.

The Leopardstown win is the one that caught the eye. The race involved a dramatic finish alongside a horse called Talk The Talk, who came down at the last fence. There was debate afterwards about whether Skylight Hustle would have won regardless, and Elliott was refreshingly honest — jockey Jack Kennedy could not guarantee the result, but he said his horse was not beaten either. What everyone agreed on was how well Skylight Hustle was travelling throughout and how strongly it finished from the final fence to the line. That kind of run tells you more than any result does.

Elliott has since given the horse a break — three quick races before Christmas followed by a freshening-up period — with Cheltenham firmly in mind. Specifically the Turners Novices' Chase, a Grade 1 race and one of the highlights of the festival. Elliott believes the horse has the class for it. Skylight Hustle last raced just one day ago, so is clearly fit and active as that preparation builds. Its recent form reads two wins followed by a seventh in its most recent outing, but with a horse being pointed at Cheltenham, the trajectory matters more than any single result. The direction of travel here is very clearly upward.