BetMGM Kingwell Hurdle
Grade 2, Wincanton 13:35
£70,000 guaranteed,
4yo plus,
2m, Class 1   
Saturday 14th February 2026

1 Alexei 1/2F
2 Rubaud 16/5
3 Secret Squirrel 6/1
4 ran Distances: 1¼l, 7l, 16l
Time: 3m 51.94s (slow by 23.94s)

Alexei did what he needed to do at Wincanton, booking his place on the road to the Champion Hurdle with a professional, no-nonsense success.

Having already made his mark this season in handicap company with victories in the Greatwood Hurdle and at Ascot, the Joe Tizzard-trained gelding was stepping into Graded company for the first time. On this evidence, he looked perfectly at home at the level.

Racing with fluency throughout, Brendan Powell was content to shadow the trailblazing Rubaud, never allowing the leader too much rope. Turning for home, Alexei moved up smoothly and, despite taking a moment to assess the final flight, produced a decisive leap that carried him into the lead. Rubaud battled on gamely, but Alexei found a bit more on the run-in to score by a length and a quarter.

Tizzard was watching from Ascot and said of the 1-2 favourite: “He’s a good traveller through a race. Whether he’s good enough (for the Champion Hurdle) we’ll find out. One thing he will do is travel into it and if he’s good enough, he’s good enough.

“It’s exciting to have a runner in the Champion Hurdle, there’s a first time for everything, and this is a nice winner in its own right.

“I only watched the race on my phone, but from what I saw he did it nicely, it was his first time in graded company and he’s won.

“Rubaud is a good yardstick and he loves it round Wincanton, so I’m pleased.”

He added: “If you’d said to us in the autumn he was a Champion Hurdle horse, he was nowhere near it, but we’ve had a cracking season with him and we’ll roll the dice.”

Garth Broom owns Alexei with his wife, Anne, under the Brocade Racing banner and knows the highs and lows of Cheltenham, the former spectacularly illustrated by the Gold Cup victory of Native River in 2018.

Celebrating his birthday in the best possible fashion, Broom said: “It’s a great way to celebrate and this is my first day back racing after spending three weeks in hospital in January after a nasty reaction to my asthma.

“I haven’t had a horse good enough to run in this race, so to win it is fantastic.

“I hope it’s better ground at Cheltenham as he’s a pure speed horse so he’s done really well to handle this ground. The faster the better for him. We’re going to Cheltenham with an outside chance, but to even go there at all is special. If you’re not in, you can’t win.

“We’ve also got Sober Glory going for the Supreme, but we’ve been to Cheltenham with high expectations before and apart from with Native River you get put in your place pretty firmly, so we’ll only go quietly hopeful.”

Wincanton Kingwell Hurdle (Grade 2)
£70,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 2m, Class 1
4 ran
Going: Heavy

POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1    Alexei 6 11-8 Joe Tizzard Brendan Powell 1/2F
2 1¼ Rubaud 8 11-10 Paul Nicholls Sam Twiston-Davies 16/5
3 7 Secret Squirrel 7 11-4 Hughie Morrison Paul O'Brien 6/1
4 16 Intellotto 6 11-4 1 Daisy Hitchins Robbie David 50/1