It's certainly eye-catching that he's so prominent in the betting for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, despite still being a maiden over timber.

The six-year-old is set for a big season this term and the flames have been fanned by Jack Kennedy's suggestion that he's the fastest Elliott horse he has ever sat on.

With that in mind, here is our in-depth profile of the horse, who could be one to follow.

Early days

El Cairos was foaled on the 4th April 2020 and is out of the twice-raced Flat maiden Linda Queen and is by the popular stallion No Risk At All, who stands at Haras de Montaigu.

He's Linda Queen's fifth foal and easily the most promising of the bunch, although half-brother Wasdell Dundalk did win eight times under rules, amassing in excess of 100,000 in prize money.

Starting his career off in the point-to-point sphere, he won a four-year-old maiden at Curraghmore, coming out on top by a neck. A trip to the sales then beckoned and he fetched a sizable fee of 200,000 when snapped up on behalf of David Maxwell.

Bumper potential

Gary & Josh Moore were made responsible for his training and the gelding made an excellent start to his career under rules when winning a bumper at Newbury back in November 2024. He looked very smart, despite racing keenly throughout, and went on to score by a very comfortable margin.

Connections then threw him in the deep end and he was a more than respectable fifth behind Bambino Fever in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. The form is working out very well and most of the field has won over hurdles this term.

Punchestown was next on the agenda and he ran in the JP & M Doyle (C & G) INH Flat Race, where he finished second behind Alan King???s Baron Noir, who is also a smart novice hurdle prospect. Doing himself no favours, he hung badly to his left in the final furlong.

Joining Gordon Elliott

It took a substantial sum for Elliott to see off the other bidders at the David Maxwell dispersal sale, but he'll be very pleased to have done so.

El Cairos made his first start over hurdles at Leopardstown over Christmas and looked booked for first place.

Unfortunately he took a tumble at the last but that didn't stop him from shortening into temporary favouritism for the Supreme in March. Currently the second favourite for that race, he's set to contest another maiden shortly and is likely to get off the mark when doing so.

Expectations will be high now and anything other than an impressive success will be deemed a failure.

Jockey Kennedy is convinced that he has plenty of gears but he clearly stays well too, which is definitely a dangerous combination.

Symbols Explained

ts² Tongue Strap vs² Visor hd² Hood es² Eye Shield ec² Eye Cover cp² Cheekpiece bl² Blinkers tt² Tongue Tie bf Beaten Favourite on Last Run srMentioned in Stewards Report in Results bbvBroke Blood Vessel

The superscript number on headgear bl² indicates number of times worn. A plus bl⁺ indicates more than 10 times where as red background bl¹indicates first time.