Two siblings from York have celebrated success at the races - with a horse named after their close bond.

Oliver and Gavin Thompson celebrated success at the final race meet of the year at York Racecourse when their horse, Two Brothers - ridden by Billy Garritty - beat 25/1 odds to storm to victory.

The two brothers, who grew up close to the racecourse, chose to buy their own horse from family friends Mick and David Easterby after having a lifelong interest in the sport.

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Oliver said: “Me and my brother each have our own business doing different things, we thought about having a hobby we enjoy that we could spend time together.

“When we went to buy the horse from Mick and David, he picked out Two Brothers for us and he’s won five times now - just shy of £100,000 in prizes. In the past two years, he’s won more than he’s cost us.

“Regarding the name, me and my brother were struggling to come up with a name, so Mick and David Easterby said it’s the Two Brothers horse and it stuck.”

The On Top Racing team celebrating the success of Two BrothersThe On Top Racing team celebrating the success of Two Brothers (Image: Provided) Since first joining the competitive circuit, the siblings found that the name resonated with people - with one family even sending a nice email to the brothers, sharing how much the horse meant to them after the loss of their sons.

"Others shared their stories of winning on the horse after being inspired to bet by their love for family members.

Oliver said: “There’s definitely highs and lows in the industry – more lows than highs honestly, but when the highs come, it’s amazing.

"We’ve got both busy lives, and it’s brought us together. We’ve been able to bring my nana to the races - my granddad was massive into horse racing so he’d be looking down at us proud.

“From there, what we’ve done is reinvested the money into buying more horses and we’ve bred our own. We’ve gone down to Newmarket and bred from Goddolphin, because we’ve had so much success with Two Brothers – it’s turned into more than that.”

Two Brothers in the ringTwo Brothers in the ring, led by groom Tarthena Rose (Image: Provided) Based on the success of Two Brothers, Oliver and Gavin started On Top Racing – a racing group where they sell shares and also offer a member’s club, which costs £10 a month and allows people to get involved in the sport without spending as much as traditional racing syndicates.

In addition to regular updates provided through WhatsApp, this allows members to join a raffle for tickets to watch Two Brothers. 

On Top Racing can be found at @ontopracingltd on Instagram, Facebook – On Top Racing LTD, or www.ontopracingltd.com