Whacker Clan

The career highlight is impossible to ignore. Winning a Class 2 race at Cheltenham — one of the most famous racecourses in the world, and one of the hardest places to win — on 28 October 2023 puts Whacker Clan in a different category from most horses you'll encounter. Cheltenham weeds out the ordinary. The fact that this horse won there, and at one of the top levels of the sport, is the defining fact of the career. It is, however, now 30 months ago, which makes the wait for another big win feel increasingly significant.

Rachael Blackmore, one of the most celebrated jump jockeys in the world, has partnered Whacker Clan six times and won on three of those occasions — a 50% win rate together, which is a remarkable partnership by any measure. That kind of record with a rider of Blackmore's calibre suggests the horse has real talent when everything clicks. Whacker Clan also appears to have a clear preference for normal ground conditions, winning 2 of 4 races on a standard surface — again at that impressive 50% clip.

Josh Halley trains the horse from a yard in Fethard, County Tipperary, and the operation has sent out 2 winners so far this season. Whacker Clan actually began its winning career at Tipperary back in May 2022, so there's a neat full-circle quality to the horse's story — starting at the local track before going on to conquer Cheltenham. Now ten years old and raced just one day ago, Whacker Clan is still very much an active competitor. The question the form book poses is whether another big-day performance is coming, or whether Cheltenham 2023 remains the high-water mark.