Grand Sabre

That sole win came at Warwick in May 2025, and trainer Nick Gifford admits it felt like a breakthrough moment. The Findon-based yard, which has sent out 12 winners already this season, was hopeful that Warwick would be the springboard to better things. It wasn't, at least not immediately — a run at Newton Abbot shortly after fell flat, and Gifford found himself putting it down to a horse running on empty at the end of a long season. When Grand Sabre returned in October at Fontwell, wet and heavy conditions made life difficult, and he probably needed the race to sharpen him up anyway. Neither of those excuses was particularly satisfying.

What is more encouraging is what happened at Lingfield most recently. According to Gifford, Grand Sabre jumped superbly that day — and for a horse competing over staying distances, jumping with confidence and rhythm matters enormously. It is the kind of run that makes a trainer think the penny might finally be dropping. Given that his jockey James Davies has ridden him eight times without managing a win together, a performance that turns heads is well overdue.

At Class 5 level — the bread-and-butter tier of the sport, where most horses find their natural home — Grand Sabre has won 1 from 7, a rate of roughly 1 in every 7 races at that level. That is modest, but at least the win did come there, which means this is a horse operating at roughly the right grade. The challenge now is turning "jumping superbly" into finishing first. He is active right now, so the next chance to prove the Lingfield run was the start of something, rather than just a pleasant afternoon, is not far away.