History made with 300-1 winner at Exeter

History was made in the opener at Exeter on Thursday when Blowers became the longest-priced winner in UK history when obliging at 300-1.

Trained by Nigel Hawke, the five-year-old was well held in a Larkhill point-to-point before being pulled up at odds of 200-1 at Chepstow on his rules debut.

However, he relished the testing conditions at the Devon track in the hands of James Best to enter the record books by edging out Harry Fry’s 5-4 favourite On The Bayou in the pricedup.bet Maiden Hurdle.

Coral took 82 bets on the horse, with the biggest being a £2 each-way single, but Hawke was not one of those and when asked if he backed the horse, he said: “I wish, I wish, I wish!

“I was a little surprised at his price, but I guess it’s the way the markets go. He’d only run twice in his life and he ran in a race at Larkhill where they did back him that day but his breathing was a problem.

“We ran him at Chepstow and the amateur jockey we had on couldn’t hold one side of him, but you saw what Besty did on him today and he didn’t stop galloping.

“I think 300-1 was a bit ridiculous to be fair and I’m not saying we knew what we had but we knew we had a horse with some ability and the owners always breed a nice type of horse.

“He had done nothing wrong at home and just had to learn to race. Besty got him switched off today and gave him a peach of a ride.

“It’s lovely for the owners (Mr and Mrs Pudd) who are West Country people and he’s a homebred, so there is a lovely story behind him.

“He will have learned a lot today and he can’t do anymore than win and that’s what he’s done now. He definitely won’t be 300-1 next time.”

Best only picked up the ride as amateur jockey Ella Herbison, who rode Blowers on his debut, missed her flight.

The previous record was held by Equinoctial who won at 250-1 at Kelso in 1990, while Blowers’ triumph has been matched in Ireland on two occasions, most recently by Sawbuck at Punchestown in April 2022 and also by He Knows No Fear in 2020.

Paddy Power also reported several winning bets with the bookmaker’s spokesperson Paul Binfield saying: “We thought anyone who backed the two previous 300-1 winners on the Emerald Isle were soothsayers and while I would be lying if I said Blowers was popular, a couple of our customers produced Mystic Meg-like performances to match their counterparts in Ireland with £10 and £15 each-way bets.”