Gorgeous Tom

The numbers tell an interesting story. A 25% win rate — roughly 1 in every 4 races — is solid for a horse at this level, and his partnership with jockey Darragh O'Keeffe is even better: together they've won 4 of 14 races, which works out at just under 1 in 3. That's a genuine combination worth paying attention to. O'Keeffe knows this horse, and the horse seems to run for him.

Where things get a little more complicated is the recent form. Gorgeous Tom hasn't won in his last six races, and his latest effort — finishing 12th just yesterday — won't have turned many heads. But look a little closer and there are reasons not to write him off entirely. Two runs back, he was second at Down Royal behind a horse called Firefox, a run that clearly caught his trainer's eye. De Bromhead described it as a return to form, and has since entered Gorgeous Tom in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury — one of the top staying races in Britain. That's not a race you enter a horse in lightly.

Ground conditions matter more for this horse than most. On slightly soft going — not heavy, but with a bit of give underfoot — he's won 2 of 5 races, a 40% win rate that jumps off the page. His last win came at Cork in November 2024, and his first career win was at Naas back in April of the same year, so he found his feet fairly late. The team have also been experimenting with distance, stepping him up in trip after a winter break, and O'Keeffe was enthusiastic after a run at Cheltenham, saying he "stayed at it really well" over the longer distance for the first time.

The honest read is that Gorgeous Tom is a horse in search of conditions that suit him. He has the ability — the win rate and the quality of his trainer prove that — and if the Coral Gold Cup entry becomes a run, and the ground comes up right, he won't be easily dismissed.