Regarde

The win that opened the account came at Huntingdon in October 2023, and it is a track Regarde has clearly taken a shine to. Two wins from just three races there makes it something close to a home advantage — when a horse wins two thirds of its visits to a particular course, that is not luck, that is a pattern worth noticing. Trainer Jamie Snowden is based at Lambourn and has had a productive season, sending out 82 winners, and he clearly knows how to place this horse. After that Huntingdon victory, Snowden noted that a shorter distance had been a real worry going in, but that Regarde jumped cleanly throughout — and suggested that things might finally be clicking into place.

The most intriguing detail, though, is what Snowden mentioned more recently: Regarde finished a close third at Cheltenham last month, beaten just over a length. Cheltenham is the sport's most famous stage, and running that competitively there — even finishing third — is the kind of performance that suggests a horse operating near the top of its abilities. Snowden has not ruled out heading back for the November meeting, which would be a significant step up in ambition.

On normal ground conditions, Regarde is a different animal entirely — 4 wins from 11 races at 36%, or better than 1 in every 3. That is nearly double its overall win rate and signals clearly what conditions suit best. Jockey Gavin Sheehan has been aboard for 10 of those 18 races and has won 3 of them together, a partnership that wins roughly 1 in every 3 rides. At nine, some horses begin to fade into the background. Regarde appears to be doing the opposite.