Belle Le Grand

Skelton himself has been candid about it. When she flopped on wet, muddy ground at Hexham, he was straightforward in his assessment — the conditions were against her, and the plan was to find faster ground through the winter and target some better races in the spring. That kind of clear-eyed trainer thinking often points the way to a horse's next good run, and Belle Le Grand has duly delivered. She won at Newton Abbot just this week, her most recent race, and is very much an active and in-form horse right now.

Her career has been building gradually. She had her first win at Fairyhouse back in October 2024, and has since added three more, picking up six places along the way in 13 races. That record — 4 wins and 6 places from 13 outings — means she has finished in the frame in 10 of those races, which speaks to a horse that competes consistently rather than one that blows hot and cold. She has done most of her racing at Class 4 level, winning 2 of 6 races there, and the question now is whether a decent run of dry ground races could see her tested at a higher level.

One eyebrow-raising detail is her record with regular jockey Liam Harrison — zero wins from six rides together. That is not necessarily a damning statistic; many of those races may well have come on ground she disliked. But it is the kind of thing racing fans notice, and it is worth watching whether the partnership clicks now that she is in form. Dan Skelton's yard has been firing on all cylinders this season — 194 winners and counting — so Belle Le Grand is operating in a confident, well-resourced setup. On fast ground, she looks like a horse who can win again.