Gerri Colombe

The biggest moments have come at the biggest venues. Three Class 1 victories — the top tier of British racing — include back-to-back wins at Aintree in April 2023 and April 2024, the kind of repeat performance at a marquee track that marks a horse out as genuinely special. A further Class 1 success at Sandown in February 2023 confirms this is a horse that consistently rises to major occasions rather than wilting under the pressure of them. When the races matter most, Gerri Colombe tends to deliver.

There is also a personal fortress in the record books. Down Royal, the Irish track, has seen this horse race four times and win three of them — a conversion rate of 75%, which is extraordinary. The most recent of those wins came just four weeks ago, suggesting the spark is very much still there. Jockey Jack Kennedy has been the regular partner for these exploits, winning 5 of their 9 races together — well over half — and his post-race comments after the Down Royal win were telling: the horse, he noted, genuinely enjoyed the conditions that day, and Aintree is already on the radar for what comes next.

Trainer Gordon Elliott, one of Ireland's most prolific handlers — his yard has sent out 209 winners already this season — has spoken candidly about managing the horse carefully rather than chasing every opportunity. Baby steps, no rushing, and a careful look at what suits him best going forward. Elliott has floated the possibility of a tilt at the Grand National rather than assuming the Cheltenham Gold Cup remains the destination, which is a significant shift in thinking. What it signals is that the team around this horse are thinking long-term, not just about the next race.

Recent form shows a win, a second and a third across the last three completed runs, which is the picture of a horse in good health and ticking along nicely. Whatever comes next — Aintree, a National, or something else entirely — Gerri Colombe arrives there with a career that already demands respect.