Big Leader

The wins have come at proper tracks and in proper company. The first arrived at Redcar in late May 2025, and by August, Big Leader had stepped up to win a Class 2 race at Thirsk — which means one of the top races in Britain, not a gentle introductory contest. Winning at that level so early in a career is the kind of thing that makes people sit up and take notice. The recent form line of 1-1-1-2 tells its own story: three wins on the spin before a runner-up finish, which barely counts as a blip.

The trainer is Geoff Oldroyd, based in Pocklington in North Yorkshire, a yard that has sent out 13 winners already this season. That is a yard in form, and a trainer who clearly knows what he has here. The question now is what comes next — because Big Leader has not raced for around seven months, returning from a break that began after that Thirsk win in August. A layoff of that length always raises questions, though a horse with this kind of early profile rarely disappears without good reason. Everything before the break pointed upward, and there will be plenty of interest in seeing whether it picks up exactly where it left off.