Astronomic View

The career highlight came at Warwick on 10 March 2024, and that win now sits 26 months in the rearview mirror. Since then, Astronomic View has gone six races without a win, with recent form reading fourth, second, third, and then three blanks — a horse that got close for a while and has since found things a little harder. The second place in that run is the glimmer of hope; it suggests the ability is still there, even if the winning thread has been difficult to find.

Most of those 26 races have come at Class 3 level — one of the mid-tier grades in British racing, a step below the top events but competitive enough that you need to be a decent horse just to belong. Astronomic View has won just 1 of 14 races at that level, roughly 1 in 14, which is a modest return but not unusual for a horse competing consistently against solid rivals.

The partnership with jockey Lucy Gardner is the defining relationship of this horse's career. She has been in the saddle for 21 of those 26 races and has been aboard for both wins — including that first career victory at Exeter on New Year's Day 2022. Winning 2 from 21 together works out at around 1 in every 10 races, which is a fair reflection of a horse operating at a level where wins are hard-earned. The fact that Gardner keeps the ride speaks to a stable relationship built on trust rather than results alone.

The yard is run by Sue Gardner, based in Longdown, Devon, and has sent out 8 winners this season — a productive spell that shows the operation is in decent form. Astronomic View raced just yesterday, so is clearly fit and active. Whether a 26-month winning drought can be ended at this stage of a nine-year-old's career is an open question, but this is a horse that keeps showing up, and in racing, that counts for something.