Gunsight Ridge

At 11 years old and with 22 races behind him, Gunsight Ridge is what you'd call an experienced campaigner. He wins roughly 1 in every 5 or 6 races — 4 wins from 22 in total — which at the level he competes at, mainly Class 2 races (one step below the very top tier in Britain), is a respectable return. He's not a horse who wins often, but when the conditions align, he clearly delivers. His trainer Mike Sowersby, who operates from a small yard in North Yorkshire and has already sent out 8 winners this season, clearly thinks there's more to come. Speaking recently, Sowersby flagged a veterans' series final at Haydock as a target that could suit him well — a race specifically for older horses, which Gunsight Ridge now qualifies for.

The last six runs tell a more complicated story. A tenth, a third, a sixth, a seventh, and two fourths — good enough to suggest he's competitive, not good enough to suggest he's at his peak. But there's context worth knowing. His trainer has mentioned that breathing surgery has helped him, and that he tends to race too enthusiastically early on, burning energy he'd be better saving. After a promising run at Aintree at the end of last season, Sowersby sounded genuinely optimistic heading into the new campaign — pointing towards wet or muddy ground over two to two and a half miles as the conditions most likely to bring out the best in him.

Jockey Sean Bowen has ridden him 12 times for 2 wins — the same 1-in-6 ratio as the horse's overall record — so it's a partnership that knows each other's rhythms. The Sandown win in February 2025 came despite the trainer worrying about the ground beforehand; the relief afterwards suggested even those closest to him don't always know exactly what to expect. That unpredictability, in a horse this experienced, is part of what makes him interesting to follow.