Advancing

The four-year-old has built a career record of 3 wins and 5 places from 14 races, winning roughly 1 in every 5 starts overall — a solid return at its level. It competes mainly in Class 4 company, the bread-and-butter middle tier of British racing, and has won 2 of 9 races at that grade, or about 1 in every 4 and a half. Those numbers are respectable rather than spectacular, but the Kempton figures tell a more exciting story. The first win came there on 12 February 2025, and the most recent on 4 March 2026 — so this is not a fluke, it is a pattern.

Soft, wet ground is another clear trigger. Advancing has won 2 of just 3 races when conditions have been heavy or muddy — that is a 67% win rate on wet tracks, which is extraordinary. Many horses tolerate soft ground; this one appears to genuinely relish it. When the heavens open before a Kempton fixture, this horse moves right to the top of the shortlist.

Botti's yard has been in fine form this season, sending out 45 winners — the kind of output that tells you horses are fit, well-drilled, and arriving at the track ready to run. That matters more than people often realise. A horse trained in a yard firing on all cylinders has every practical advantage.

The recent form reads 10-6-11-11-1-4 and it is honest enough. The two poor runs in the middle are easy to set aside when you look at what bookends them: a win and a near-miss. Advancing raced just yesterday, so it is very much in the thick of its season. Whether it can find its preferred conditions at its favourite track again is the key question — but when those two things align for this horse, the results tend to follow.