Great d'Ange

The most striking thing about Great d'Ange is what happens when conditions are right. On normal ground — not too wet, not too firm — this horse has won 4 of its 22 races at that type of surface, or roughly 1 in every 5 and a half attempts. That 18% win rate on normal ground might sound modest in isolation, but compare it to the overall picture of 4 wins from 33 races (about 1 in 8), and it becomes clear that ground conditions are a meaningful factor here. When the track is playing normally, the horse is simply a different proposition.

That said, it has been 23 months since Great d'Ange last won — a victory at Newton Abbot in August 2024 — and the recent form figures of 2-9-–-–-5-3 show a horse that is mixing the very promising with the difficult. Second place is encouraging; the gaps and the nine suggest races where things haven't clicked. Most of its career has been spent at Class 4 level, which sits in the middle tier of British racing, and the record there reads 1 win from 15 races — about 1 in 15, which is slim. It may be a horse that performs better when the class drops slightly.

Regular jockey Tom Broughton has yet to find the winner's enclosure together with this horse in nine attempts, which is a run of bad luck worth noting — though at this level, small samples can mislead. Trainer Alexander Gibbons operates out of Broad Hinton in Wiltshire and has sent out 2 winners this season, a yard still searching for momentum. Great d'Ange raced just yesterday, so it is clearly in full work and being kept busy. Whether another win is around the corner is hard to say, but this is a horse that has shown it knows how to win — and on the right surface, on the right day, it is far from done.