Grand Geste had every excuse to have a quiet afternoon. Pulled up at Doncaster last time, a novice chaser in a Premier Handicap against seasoned stayers, sent off 13/2 in a race the jolly Myretown was supposed to put to bed. Nobody would have blamed connections for lowering expectations.
Instead, the seven-year-old grey stayed on like a horse who’d been doing this for years, seeing off Top Of The Bill by 1¾ lengths in the William Hill Grand National Trial to hand Sue Smith her first win in this race since The Last Fling in 2000.
Twenty-six years is a long gap by anyone’s standards.
What the form actually says
Strip away the Doncaster pullup and Grand Geste’s record makes a lot more sense than his price suggested. We pulled his SmartForm profile and one thing jumps out immediately: his relationship with Haydock.
Over fences, his course record at Haydock now reads two wins and a second from three starts. Away from Haydock? Zero wins from eleven runs. That’s not a small sample quirk — it’s a horse who genuinely thrives on the long, galloping straights and testing conditions that Haydock throws up.
| Venue | Chase Starts | Wins | Places |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haydock | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Elsewhere | 11 | 0 | 2 |
His Tommy Whittle win in December was the first signal. He made all and went clear before two out on good to soft ground, winning with authority off a mark of 117. Yesterday, off a higher mark and against better opposition, he did something similar — travelling into the race smoothly before asserting from two out.
The Doncaster run between those performances? Pulled up before the 12th. Flat course, different ground, different track profile entirely. Some horses just have places they don’t handle. Grand Geste at Doncaster looked like a different animal to Grand Geste at Haydock.
Where he goes next
Smith and co-trainer Joel Parkinson are pointing him towards the Cheltenham Festival — specifically the novices’ handicap chase on the opening day. His odds have been cut from 25/1 to 14/1 on the back of this.
Whether Cheltenham’s undulating track suits him as well as Haydock’s flat gallop is the obvious question. His only previous run at a left-handed track with any sort of hill (Carlisle, November) saw him finish second, beaten four lengths, keeping on without ever really threatening the winner. Not a disaster, but not the dominant display he puts in at Haydock either.
The ground will matter too. Both Haydock wins came on good to soft or softer, and he’s by the same sire as Vintage Clouds — another Smith-trained stayer who loved cut in the ground and thrived at the Festival.
The bigger picture
What makes this story interesting beyond the result itself is the type of yard producing it. Joel Parkinson and Sue Smith aren’t part of the Ditcheat or Closutton superpowers. They’re training out of Yorkshire with a fraction of the firepower, and they’ve found a horse who, at a specific track in specific conditions, can beat high-class opposition.
For the Grand National itself, Grand Geste is still a novice and isn’t high enough in the weights this year. But if he keeps improving at this rate, Aintree 2027 won’t be a fantasy.
For now, the Cheltenham target makes plenty of sense. And if it rains in the Cotswolds in March — well, that would suit him just fine.