Grace Harris is just one winner away from a major personal milestone.
Harris’s horses have started September in the same flying form they have shown for most of the year, and a brace of winners in the first few days of the month has put her on the brink of a record-breaking year.
The victories of Connie’s Rose at her local track Chepstow and Savannah Smiles (photographed) at Bath have propelled the Monmouthshire trainer on to the 21-winner mark for 2025. That equals the highest number of winners she has trained in a calendar year. That came back in 2023, but with more than three months of this year to go she is well on course to pass that total.
Her winners have been varied, with 16 coming on the flat and five over jumps. Those five have been achieved with just 29 runners. Connie’s Rose has been among her most prolific winners, striking no fewer than 10 times since moving yards from William Jarvis in the spring of 2022.
Harris will be looking to make a splash with her promising two-year-old Exclamation this week. He is entered in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting and holds an alternative engagement in the Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar.
David Evans made it 30 for the season when warm favourite Guernsey Angel rallied to take a five-furlong nursery at Wolverhampton on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, Dai Rees is celebrating getting off the mark for the new jumps season. Rees, who trains in Pembrokeshire, chalked up his first winner on the board for 2025-26 when Radharc Na Slaine got up in the final few strides to land a handicap chase at Stratford on Saturday.
The 9-2 chance was partnered by Sean Bowen, who continues to motor along at the head of the jump jockeys’ standings. Radharc Na Slain was the second part of a double he bagged at Stratford, with his first success a much more straightforward affair as he coasted home eight lengths clear on Hamlet’s Night in a maiden hurdle.
His thirst for winners had carried him to County Durham in midweek as he landed a double on Ivane and Delpotro at Sedgefield. The success on Delpotro came at the expense of his brother James, who was beaten into second on board Limerick Leader for Carmarthenshire trainer Alison Thorpe.
On Sunday, Sean partnered Lermoos Legend to victory at Fontwell for his brother Mickey. At the time of writing, he’s on 76 winners for the season – in second place is his brother James on 32 successes.
