Mighty Bandit

The headline number is €420,000 — that is what Warren Greatrex's yard paid for him two years ago, a serious investment that always carries pressure. Greatrex, based at Upper Lambourn in Berkshire and in the middle of a fine season with 50 winners already on the board, moved Mighty Bandit from flat racing into chasing this season, and the switch has produced results. He finished second to a horse that went on to win a top-level race at Kempton over Christmas, which instantly tells you the standard he has been mixing in. Then on 24 January 2026, he went to Doncaster and won a Class 2 race — one of the top tiers of British racing — by a reported 17 lengths. Greatrex was visibly surprised by the winning margin, and immediately floated the idea of a Grade 1, which is as high as the sport gets.

The wet ground angle matters here too. Mighty Bandit has won 3 from 4 races on soft or muddy ground — a 75% record that is genuinely extraordinary. Most horses have ground preferences; very few have a record that lopsided. If the rain comes, back this horse. If the ground is dry, the conversation changes.

Edward Greatrex, Warren's son, has ridden him in 11 of his 22 races and won on 2 of them — roughly 1 in every 5 or 6 rides together, which is a decent partnership rather than a dominant one. After Doncaster, the younger Greatrex was effusive, pointing to the horse's big price tag and suggesting major races on the horizon.

Mighty Bandit has had a 41-day break since that Doncaster win and, according to his trainer, will head to Aintree fresh and with rising confidence. For a 6-year-old, that is still relatively young in chasing terms. The feeling from the yard is that the best is genuinely still to come.