Garde Des Champs

Both of those wins have come at the same track: Perth, up in Perthshire, where Garde Des Champs has raced 20 times in total. Winning 2 from 20 at the same venue is not a coincidence — it tells you this horse knows that track, knows the turns, and saves its best for familiar surroundings. The most recent win came on 13 July 2025, which means it has gone 12 months since tasting victory, but the fact it raced just one day ago shows there is no shortage of enthusiasm from the team sending it out.

That team is the highly regarded yard of Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore, based at Milnathort in Perth and Kinross — a partnership that has sent out 49 winners already this season. They clearly know what they are doing with this horse: keeping it at Class 4, the level just below the very top tiers, where it has won both times in 20 attempts. The regular partner in the saddle is Derek Fox, one of the better jockeys in the Scottish jumping scene, though the two of them are still searching for a win together across 10 races — a run that will surely end sooner or later.

The other detail that stands out is the ground. Both wins have come on normal ground conditions, with 2 wins from 24 races in those circumstances. When the ground is normal and the track is Perth, Garde Des Champs becomes a different proposition. The last six runs — two seconds, two thirds, a fourth, and an eighth — suggest a horse in decent enough nick, just waiting for everything to click again. At ten years old, the clock is ticking, but the form says it is not done yet.