Great Mates

The breakthrough came at Wolverhampton back in November 2025, but the real momentum has built in the past few weeks. Three weeks ago, Great Mates won at Great Yarmouth, and then raced again just yesterday, finishing fourth. That kind of quick turnaround suggests the horse is being campaigned actively and the trainer believes it can win again soon. When you look at the recent form — fourth, first, second, fourth, sixth, fourth — there is genuine consistency there. This is not a horse that vanishes to the bottom of the field. It stays competitive, places regularly, and has proved capable of winning at the top of that form.

Trainer Marco Botti, based in Newmarket, runs one of the busier operations in British racing, with 45 winners sent out from the yard this season. Botti's experience and the fact that Great Mates keeps finding the winner's circle suggest the horse is being placed thoughtfully into winnable races. At Class 5 level — the lower echelon of competitive racing — Great Mates has a 25% win rate: one victory from four races at that standard. That is the horse's natural level, and there it has proved reliable. With two wins in the last six races and only three weeks between its last victory and yesterday's run, Great Mates looks like a horse with genuine momentum and a real chance of adding to its tally in the coming weeks.