Garde Des Champs

Both of those wins have come at Perth, and that is the most interesting thread running through this horse's story. From 17 races at the track, it has won twice — which works out at about 1 in every 8 or 9 runs there, meaningfully better than its record anywhere else. Perth is a tight, flat, left-handed circuit that suits certain horses like a favourite armchair, and Garde Des Champs clearly feels at home. Its most recent win came there on 13 July 2025, roughly ten months ago, and it has raced just yesterday, so this is very much a horse still in active service. The fact that it has not won in its last six races, finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 8th, and 4th in that sequence, suggests it is competing well enough without quite getting over the line.

The yard behind it is worth paying attention to. Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore train out of Milnathort in Perth and Kinross — fitting, given this horse's fondness for the local track — and they have sent out 49 winners already this season, which marks them out as one of the more productive operations in the northern part of the jumping scene. Garde Des Champs has done its best work on normal ground conditions, winning both races on a standard surface, going 2 from 21 on that type of going. It races mainly at Class 4 level, the solid middle tier of British jump racing, where it has won 2 of its 20 starts — 1 in every 10.

Jockey Derek Fox has been the regular partner, but their ten races together have produced no wins yet. That is not unusual — plenty of good partnerships take time — but it remains an open question whether this combination will eventually find the winning formula.