Secret Des Dieux

The partnership with jockey Sean Bowen is one of the most eye-catching parts of the story. In six races together, Bowen has ridden Secret Des Dieux to four wins — that's a two-in-three success rate, which in horse racing terms is extraordinary. Most top jockeys aim for something closer to one in five or one in six across a full season. When one rider and one horse click at that level, you start to wonder whether the combination itself is the secret ingredient.

The horse also has what racing people quietly treasure: a track it genuinely loves. At Fakenham, a tight and twisting little course in Norfolk, Secret Des Dieux has won twice from five visits. That might sound modest, but course specialists are valuable precisely because racecourses are so different from one another — bends, gradients, and ground all vary enormously. A horse that consistently shows up at a particular track and performs is worth paying attention to, and Fakenham is where the whole career began, with a first-ever win there in November 2024.

Trainer James Owen runs a busy and productive yard out of Newmarket, the heartland of British racing, and 210 winners in a single season is a significant operation. Secret Des Dieux competes mostly at Class 4 level — not quite the top tier, but solid, competitive racing — and has won four of seven races at that level. That's more than half, which is a remarkable conversion rate and suggests the horse is exactly where it belongs, not struggling up against stronger opponents but thriving against horses at the right standard.

With recent form reading 1-1-6-4-3-1 — two wins bookending the sequence — and a race just a fortnight ago, Secret Des Dieux is exactly the kind of horse a knowledgeable friend would quietly tip you to watch. Not flashy, not famous, just winning.