Nando Parrado: The biggest SP of a Royal Ascot winner in history at 150/1
Nando Parrado: The biggest SP of a Royal Ascot winner in history at 150/1

2020: The year of the longshot | Ben Linfoot looks at a record-breaking year for 100/1 and bigger outsiders


Ben Linfoot looks at the horses that have made 2020 the year with the highest number of 100/1 and bigger winners this century.

When Le Figaro Faoudel won at 125/1 at Listowel on Monday September 21, 2020 became the year that has supplied the most 100/1 and bigger winners this century.

With over two months of the season having been lost to the coronavirus pandemic and three months of the year still to go, this seems incredible.

But several factors have combined to create the perfect storm for your monster-priced winners.

Chiefly, the SP system being forced off course is likely to have been a major cause. Starting prices have not been able to be returned by on-course bookmakers, as there haven’t been any, so instead have been produced using odds provided by the major off-course bookies.

On top of that, April and May were lost completely and the racing fixture list received a huge overhaul.

The two-year-olds, in particular, had rushed preparations for Royal Ascot and in Nando Parrado, the 150/1 winner of the Coventry Stakes, that meeting had its longest-priced winner in its 213-year history.

With both bookmakers and punters more in the dark than is usually the case, that big hole in the formbook and new SP system have created the perfect environment for surprising victories.

This is not a suggestion that backing three-figured priced horses is a path to riches. Indeed, if you’d waited until just before the off and backed every horse at 100/1 and bigger in Britain and Ireland since resumption, you would have had 3125 bets at a £1 level-stake loss of -£1211.


100/1+ winners this century, by year (GB and Ireland)

  • 2000 – 1 (Runners 1622 £1 P/L to SP -£1521)
  • 2001 – 5 (Runners 2696 £1 P/L to SP -£2191)
  • 2002 – 3 (Runners 2557 £1 P/L to SP -£2154)
  • 2003 – 9 (Runners 3560 £1 P/L to SP -£2651)
  • 2004 – 10 (Runners 4187 £1 P/L to SP -£3177)
  • 2005 – 12 (Runners 4595 £1 P/L to SP -£3283)
  • 2006 – 14 (Runners 5056 £1 P/L to SP -£3592)
  • 2007 – 10 (Runners 4596 £1 P/L to SP -£3561)
  • 2008 – 6 (Runners 4653 £1 P/L to SP -£3997)
  • 2009 – 7 (Runners 4867 £1 P/L to SP -£4160)
  • 2010 – 13 (Runners 3962 £1 P/L to SP -£2474)
  • 2011 – 7 (Runners 4297 £1 P/L to SP -£3590)
  • 2012 – 9 (Runners 3450 £1 P/L to SP -£2391)
  • 2013 – 6 (Runners 3084 £1 P/L to SP -£2478)
  • 2014 – 4 (Runners 3383 £1 P/L to SP -£2979)
  • 2015 – 4 (Runners 3879 £1 P/L to SP -£3475)
  • 2016 – 4 (Runners 4350 £1 P/L to SP -£3846)
  • 2017 – 9 (Runners 4537 £1 P/L to SP -£3528)
  • 2018 – 7 (Runners 4681 £1 P/L to SP -£3899)
  • 2019 – 6 (Runners 5182 £1 P/L to SP -£4551)
  • 2020 – 15 (Runners 4247 £1 P/L to SP -£2232, so far...*)

Source: ProForm


On average, there were 7.3 winners annually with an SP of 100/1 or bigger in Britain and Ireland this century (before this year).

The previous two most prolific years were 2006 (14), when Mudawin won the Ebor at York at 100/1, and 2010 (13), when Sole Power won the Nunthorpe on the Knavesmire at the same odds.

They were good years for the longshot, but nothing like 2020. Not when you consider there have been just seven months of racing and 15 winners (and counting) have returned an SP of 100/1 or bigger.

Included among that number is 300/1 scorer He Knows No Fear at Leopardstown in August, the biggest-priced winner since records began.

Let’s take a look at these unlikely longshots – there is no better place to start than him.


He Knows No Fear – 300/1 Betfair Starting Price (BSP): 999/1
Leopardstown, August 13. Trainer: Luke Comer

Luke Comer is one of the richest men in Ireland. A former plasterer turned property developer, his construction empire is valued in the billions. He trains racehorses for fun. It must be for fun, as they certainly don’t win very often.

You might remember his most famous horse, Chimes At Midnight. Acquired from Aidan O’Brien in the summer of 2000, the son of Danzig finished third to Millenary in that year’s St Leger at Doncaster, at odds of 40/1. The following June he won the Group Three Curragh Cup, Comer’s most high-profile victory.

Chimes At Midnight was not the catalyst to an era of success, however. This century Comer has trained just 16 winners on the Flat in Ireland, from 719 runners at a win strike-rate of two per cent.

When his He Knows No Fear lined up for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Leopardstown on August 13, this year, in the same white and maroon diablo colours that Chimes At Midnight carried two decades ago, he was attempting to halt a bleak barren spell for his owner-trainer.

Comer’s last winner, on the Flat at least – and he’s hardly prolific over jumps - came on December 23 2011 when Confidence, an 8/1 shot, won a 10-furlong handicap at Dundalk. That was 293 runners ago. Nine years and 293 runners. That’s a pretty long losing streak.

If you’d backed every one of those to the same stake, you were about to get your money back and change. For He Knows No Fear was sent off at 300/1 for his second career run, on the back of an 18-length 12th at Limerick on his first day at school where his chance went at the start.

At Leopardstown he broke well and was held-up in midfield by jockey Chris Hayes. Rounding the home turn your eye was drawn to Oronero who ran out as the field made its way into the straight and it was about then that Hayes pulled He Knows No Fear into daylight down the middle of the track.

Agitare hit 1.01 in-running on Betfair. Jim Bolger’s 98-rated son of Teofilo, sent off even money, was the clear form pick and he had a couple of lengths in hand at the furlong pole.

But He Knows No Fear was making rapid headway down the outside. You can just about hear commentator Jerry Hannon pause as he checks the colours of the unlikely finisher. The outsider rattled to victory, always getting there, and if you didn’t know his odds this was nothing out of the ordinary, as horse A mows down horse B right on the line.

At 300/1, though, this was an extraordinary win. The longest-priced winner in Britain or Ireland since starting prices were first written down and recorded. Hardly little man comes good, given Comer’s back story, but certainly a huge surprise and the headline act in 2020’s list of triumphant underdogs.


Intercessor – 200/1 BSP 611/1
Newbury, June 13. Trainer: John Gallagher

Just half a length separated the first five home in division two of the ironically named It’s Not Rocket Science With MansionBet Novice Stakes at Newbury in June.

Take the winner out and you have a John Gosden-trained even-money shot, Nasraawy, beating an Alan King-trained 7/1 chance, Tremor. Normal stuff.

But in front of that duo was Intercessor, at 200/1. A horse that had beaten just one horse home when he was 26 lengths behind the winner on his only other career start almost a year previously.

Just one of two John Gallagher-trained winners since resumption (from 53 runners), the son of Due Diligence led from the outset but looked sure to be swamped by the closers at the two-furlong pole.

He was headed, just, but he rallied really well under Cieren Fallon to get back in front and just hold on from the fast-finishing Nasraawy who nicked second in a blanket finish.

A five-way photo was called and the winning distance was a head. Followed by another head and then another head and a short head and another short head. A pulsating climax.

But were connections on? Well, yes and no…

“The owner backed it because he always has a few quid win and place, so he’s made up,” Gallagher said afterwards.

“I won’t have an online bookie account, I can’t do it, I just wouldn’t have it. So the fact that there’s no bookies here has cost me a fortune! I don’t care, though, he’s done the business.”

Intercessor has run twice since, beating just one of 19 rivals home in his two races. It’s Not Rocket Science… it’s harder than that!


Nando Parrado – 150/1 BSP 189/1
Royal Ascot, June 20. Trainer: Clive Cox

You can understand your 100/1 and bigger winners at your Tipperarys and your Windsors and your Limericks. We’ll get to those.

But at Royal Ascot? A massive-priced winner there is a rarity, with the previous longest-shot heroes at the meeting being 100/1 chances Fox Chapel, who won the 1990 Britannia Stakes, and Flashmans Papers, first home in the 2008 Windsor Castle.

Nando Parrado, though, dwarfed those previous Royal Ascot longshots by taking the Coventry Stakes at a remarkable 150/1 for Clive Cox and Adam Kirby in June.

Yes, he made huge strides forward from first to second start having been fifth to Bright Devil at Newmarket on debut.

Nando Parrado: The biggest SP of a Royal Ascot winner in history at 150/1
Nando Parrado: The biggest SP of a Royal Ascot winner in history at 150/1

But if there’s one winner in this list of 15 that sort of makes sense, it’s him. He ran okay on debut, he was sent off 17/2 in what looked a hot race, so he was clearly highly thought of, and he was only beaten five lengths.

That was on Good to Firm ground and conditions at Ascot were slightly easier, while he’s trained by a master of sprinters and he cost a few quid at the sales, too, going for 200,000 guineas at Tattersalls as a yearling.

And if there was ever going to be a two-year-old winner at a humongous price at Royal Ascot, it was at this year’s meeting, with the truncated season only a few weeks old.

He did it very nicely, as well, racing prominently towards the far side of the pack before keeping on really strongly to hold off all challengers after hitting the front about a furlong out.

His subsequent second to the Queen Mary winner, Campanelle, in the Group One Darley Prix Morny at Deauville, shows it was no fluke and he remains an exciting prospect for the rest of this season and beyond.

“We expected him to run a bit better at Newmarket but the ground was a bit livelier than we hoped,” said Cox after the Coventry.

“We loved him and I wanted to give him a realistic timeframe to get to this race. It’s not a surprise at all, the price is – but that’s the only thing.”


Seanjohnsilver – 150/1 BSP 321.86/1
Tipperary, September 14. Trainer: John McConnell

Since Seanjohnsilver had left Declan Carroll to join John McConnell things hadn’t gone so well for the horse.

The four-year-old son of Power had been winless for his previous trainer, but he had at least finished third at Thirsk off a mark of 57 and second at Ripon off 1lb higher.

So it was disappointing when he finished 14th of 14 on his stable debut at Dundalk. And 125 days later it was disappointing when he was 14th of 14 at Navan. Things didn’t get any better when he was 16th of 16 at Leopardstown a week after that and then first-time cheekpieces were no inspiration when he was 18th of 18 after a near two-month break back at Navan.

After not beating a rival home in four starts and being beaten by a combined margin of over 104 lengths, the easing in the weights of 7lb and disappearing sheepskin were not enough to tempt confidence from anyone when he lined up at Tipperary for a 5f handicap on September 14.

But he had a new jockey in Gary Carroll and, as things transpired, he was drawn in a very good spot in stall 17 thanks to a near-side bias.

Not only that, but he got a good start. His previous four close-up comments read; ‘towards rear, towards rear, slowly away and detached and very slowly into stride,’ but this time he broke well as ‘chased leaders in near side group’ suggests.

He got a nice tow into the race off said leader, Mi Esperanza, and when that filly went for home in the final furlong Seanjohnsilver managed to cover her move and get up in the final 50 yards to win by a length-and-a-quarter.

At 150/1.


Chocquinto – 150/1 BSP 304.84/1
Curragh, July 26. Trainer: Hilary McLoughlin

It had been eight months since Tipperary trainer Miss Hilary McLoughlin had last had a winner.

That was Count Of Carabass, her most prolific horse, a six-time victor who won twice in less than three weeks at Dundalk last November.

Eight months sounds a long time, but it was only 14 runners on the Flat. Still, the victory of her Chocquinto in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at the Curragh on July 26 came as a shock. Not least to the bookmakers who returned the Requinto filly at 150/1.

Unraced as a two-year-old, McLoughin had run Chocquinto over six-and-a-half furlongs on her racecourse debut at Limerick in June and she finished last of six.

Disappointed by what she saw, considering what her filly had been doing at home, McLoughlin dropped her back to five-and-a-half furlongs at Navan for her second start in July, but she didn’t fare any better, beating just one rival in a field of 14.

A further drop back in trip, to the bare five furlongs on slightly better ground, worked the oracle and the speed she’d been showing on the gallops at home was at last in evidence on the track.

She tanked through the race on the stands’ side, travelling best of all, and she put the race to bed once Billy Lee switched her into daylight as he asked her to go and win her race.

Which she did, by a length and a half.

“She showed so much at home against our other horses, she just seemed to have a different gear,” McLoughlin said after the stunning success.

“Billy rode her at home on our local gallop and he actually said that what she felt like today was like she does at home.

“To come out in a big field in a track like this and to win is absolutely fantastic.”

Chocquinto hasn’t managed to win again in her three subsequent starts, but she did arguably replicate her Curragh form when beaten just over two lengths in a Cork handicap off a mark of 74 last time out.

That gives hope, at least, she wasn’t just a one-hit wonder.


Oo De Lally – 125/1 BSP 231.24/1
Newbury, September 19. Trainer: Andrew Balding

“We don’t have three-figure priced runners often, but someone would have backed him because our horses do tend to step up for their first runs,” so said Andrew Balding in the aftermath of Oo De Lally’s 125/1 success in division one of the Heatherworld Stud EBF Novice Stakes at Newbury.

“I expect someone in a betting shop somewhere in the country has backed him and will be happy.”

Hopefully that will have been the case. It’s a commonly-held belief that Balding’s two-year-olds come on plenty for their first run and the stats back this up: of 556 two-year-olds that he’s had beaten on debut, 92 of them went on to win on their second start, with 62.92% of rivals beaten.

This year he’s 11 from 30 using the same criteria, a win strike-rate of 36.67%, with 71.28% of rivals beaten, the £1 P/L to SP +£148.56, a number helped significantly, of course, by Oo De Lally’s monster return.

He was hardly an obvious one, however, given the son of Vadamos had beaten just one rival home on debut in a 12-runner maiden at Ascot 15 days before his surprise win.

Beaten 13 lengths that day, Balding summarised: “I quite liked him before Ascot but he didn’t show a lot there and we thought he might be one for a bit further in time.”

Just over two weeks later, over the same seven-furlong trip, he had learned what it was all about and he simply travelled the best in a prominent position, having too many guns for Clive Cox’s newcomer, Aratus, who was beaten three-quarters-of-a-length, the pair over two lengths clear of the rest.

John Gosden’s 4/6 favourite, Mithras, had made a much more encouraging debut than Oo De Lally when he was fourth to One Ruler at Sandown, but the son of Dubawi didn’t kick on from that and finished fourth.

“I think he might be my biggest priced winner,” said Balding. “I can’t think of anything bigger.”

He is, with Dark Missile and Magma being his two previous longest-odds winners, both at 66/1. Both improved for experience in maiden company, with Dark Missile winning on her second start and Magma on her third.


Le Figaro Faoudel – 125/1 BSP: 224.88/1
Listowel, September 21. Trainer Eoin McCarthy

All of the above horses were winning on the Flat but there are five National Hunt longshot winners in the list starting with Le Figaro Faoudel.

Sent off 125/1 for the Connolly’s RED MILLS Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle, Le Figaro Faoudel’s task was made easier when the 7/4 favourite, Defan, fell heavily at the second, while the field was reduced to seven when Dungans Well was pulled up three out.

At that point it was clear Le Figaro Faoudel was an outsider with a massive chance, as he travelled well up the inner for Kevin Brouder as they started to make in-roads on the long-time leader, Rippon Lodge.

By two out our longshot hero had nudged ahead and he went a couple of lengths clear between the last two flights, Dedanann’s late charge only a minor scare as Le Figaro Faoudel was punched out to win by a length-and-a-quarter.

Beaten 89 lengths on soft ground at Galway on debut, he was then pulled up on soft-heavy at Limerick after that, but a 297-day break and racing on much better conditions helped with the dramatic turnaround.

“He broke my heart since we bought him with little niggles,” McCarthy said afterwards.

“He worked awfully well last week. It’s a bit of a shock. We might look to the sales with him now, we thought he would run well today and make a plan from there.”

There looked to be no fluke about this stunning success, but it remains to be seen if Le Figaro can make the headlines again.


Albadri – 100/1 BSP 117.6/1
Windsor, August 17. Trainer: Jane Chapple-Hyam

Here’s a rare beast – a 100/1 winner on debut.

Albadri is the only one in the list and he’s one of 13 horses on the Flat to win at 100/1 on debut this century, with only two of them coming at Southwell in December where you might expect this sort of shock.

Windsor was the venue for Albadri’s surprise success, a surprise due to his odds and also the fact his trainer, Jane Chapple-Hyam, is hardly renowned for readying one first time up.

This was just the 11th debut winner of Chapple-Hyam’s career, but she does have previous when it comes to producing a big shock from a debutant, as her Bullington Bandit won at 80/1 on his first start in a novice race at Newbury in 2017.

Her most famous longshot surprise, though, is the aforementioned Mudawin who won the Ebor at 100/1 in 2006.

As for Albadri, he’s by Dandy Man, but is out of an Authorized mare and his winning half-siblings got their heads in front over much further, so it was natural to presume that first time up over six furlongs might be a bit sharp for him.

The soft ground made things more of a test, though, and there was a disappointing odds-on favourite in Longlai who failed to run up to the form of his previous two starts on very different conditions.

As they so often do in soft ground at Windsor, the field ran down the far side and Albadri was a stylish winner, landing the prize by almost three lengths after storming down the outside of the pack under Tim Clark.

Beaten just over five lengths in seventh in the Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy after that, he was far from disgraced, and it will be interesting to see how he develops after such a taking success at such a big price on debut.


Pimstrel – 100/1 BSP 157.02/1
Gowran, July 8. Trainer: Jarlath Fahey

“She’s decided to do what she’s capable of doing,” said trainer Jarlath Fahey after his Pimstrel won the first race of her career at the seventh time of asking at Gowran in July.

You might also say that he decided to do what she was bred to be doing, as the Elusive Pimpernel filly with a miler’s pedigree was dropped back to 1600 metres after a brief foray over 1m2f, 1m3f and even 1m6f prior to her Gowran success.

A combination of factors could explain the improvement. This was her first start for 259 days and it was her first start in cheekpieces, too, but dropping back fully six furlongs in trip clearly helped as she just about made all under Leigh Roche.

Clad in the mainly blue colours of the trainer’s wife, Suzanne, Pimstrel broke well from her wide draw and led them round the home bend where Roche made a bee-line for the stands’ side.

With everything being scrubbed along in behind, it soon became clear that only Plum Perfect, a 6/1 chance, could deny the leader, but Pimstrel found more to see off her lone pursuer for a convincing three-quarter length victory.

Pimstrel has held her form well since, running with credit in mile handicaps off higher marks without repeating her Gowran success, and she remains Fahey’s only winner this season from 50 goes.


Mr Carpenter – 100/1 BSP 148.99/1
York, July 9. Trainer: Tim Easterby

Mr Carpenter crafted a lovely maiden win on his stable debut for Tim Easterby in the New Sporting Life App Handicap at York on July 9.

Dropped out in the rear from his wide draw by Cam Hardie, Mr Carpenter started to pick off rivals in the home straight and he built up momentum on the outside, hitting the lead a furlong out.

He mastered Fox Vardy on the inside, but Sweet Celebration came with a rattling late run only to be denied by a head with Mr Carpenter clinging onto his 100/1 victory.

“I didn’t look to see what price he was, I don’t bet,” said Easterby afterwards. “We thought he wanted a bit of juice in the ground and I wasn’t shocked that he ran well.”

Formerly trained by David Lanigan, Mr Carpenter had been inconsistent for his ex-handler and was last seen finishing last at Chelmsford in a first-time tongue-tie over seven furlongs.

Easterby freshened him up, dispersed of the breathing aid and stepped him up five furlongs in trip, with spectacular results.

The horse encountered more than a bit of juice in the ground at Catterick on his next start, where heavy conditions awaited the four-year-old.

He finished last of 11 and that helps explain why, back at York, he was again an unconsidered outsider in the Judith Marshall Memorial Stakes Handicap on September 6.

This time around he wasn’t quite so big a price and was sent off at 25/1, but he did the business again, back down to 10 furlongs, where identical patient tactics worked the oracle once more despite a more-than troubled passage.


Mere Anarchy – 100/1 BSP: 201.34/1
Salisbury, September 11. Trainer: Robert Stephens

For the dual-purpose longshot, switching codes off a lenient mark, see Mere Anarchy: Exhibit A.

It’s not really a surprise he was 100/1, however. On a losing run of 15, the nine-year-old son of Yeats struggled over hurdles last winter and was last seen pulling up at Chepstow on January 31.

But he rocked up at Salisbury on September 11 for the Racing TV Handicap over 1m6f, on the back of a 224 day-break and, crucially, racing off a 3lb lower mark than that he had last won off on the Flat.

A great spectacle, though, it was not.

A flag start, a horse in Brazon that refused to race (how he was deemed to be a runner was grossly unfair) and a run from The Rocket Park that has to be seen to be believed (detached at halfway, a long way last three out, sprinted home for a one-and-a-quarter-length third).

During all this Mere Anarchy had made uncomplicated progress from the midfield to get into contention. Pulled wide to challenge three out, the relative veteran stayed on well under Kieran Shoemark to edge out Peckinpah by three-quarters-of-a-length.

They went quick and got racing early, setting things up for those with stamina in abundance – one thing that Mere Anarchy had in his locker, as befits a horse that had won over two miles on the Flat and raced over three miles over jumps.


Ardaghs Choice – 100/1 BSP: 182.15/1
Kilbeggan, September 11. Trainer: Dusty Sheehy

Just 75 minutes before Mere Anarchy was winning at Salisbury, there was another 100/1 shot going in over the Irish Sea as Ardaghs Choice won the Follow Kilbeggan On Twitter Handicap Hurdle at Kilbeggan itself.

His inflated SP could well be put down to his pre-race antics, as he went from 50/1 to 100s only after rearing in the paddock when Kevin Sexton first got on him, the horse sitting down and refusing to budge at one point, before the jockey worked miracles to keep a lid on him going down to the start.

In the race itself the horse was perfectly behaved, eventually settling in second behind Lessofdnegativity, which you could’ve shouted at the winner’s starting price.

After all, he was lightly-raced after experiencing one point-to-point, two bumpers and three maiden hurdles. He’s a half-brother to the stayer Shantou Magic and this 3m1f trip was the furthest he’d ever gone.

It was also his handicap debut and he defied a mark of 95.

That, you might well think, was his day, but he went in again a week later at Downpatrick, defeating a field of novice hurdlers by over eight lengths, with five of the line-up rated higher than his new mark of 102.


Some Spin – 100/1 BSP 273.48/1
Limerick, July 23. Trainer: James Kieran King

In his fledgling training career, James Kieran King has trained just four winners, but he might never saddle another victorious horse as big a price as Some Spin again.

The former amateur rider, who rode eight winners in a spell with Edward O’Grady, won with his very first runner as a trainer, Derrygereen Girl, who won a Roscommon bumper under his brother, Patrick, back in 2016, but that wasn’t so much of a shock as she was sent off at 9/2.

The two brothers combined again with Yes Pat (9/1) in another bumper at Kilbeggan the following year and then last year, Annie Odds, under Jack Doyle this time, won a mares’ maiden hurdle at Clonmel at 33s.

It seems the victories for King have been getting even more unlikely and Some Spin certainly kept that SP graph on an upward trajectory when he landed division two of the Well Done To All Frontline Staff From Limerick Racecourse Maiden Hurdle on July 23.

The son of Getaway was making his hurdling debut, but he’d shown next to nothing in a Tipperary bumper in June when he was beaten 34 lengths on his racecourse bow.

It would’ve taken the most optimistic of punters to believe sticking eight flights of timber in front of him would help him get his head in front, and he was duly sent off at 100/1, but he thrived for the switch to hurdling.

King the jockey raced wide throughout and perhaps that helped, maybe he found some better ground, but, either way, the market principals all ran poorly with Top Line Tommy and Hesamanofhisword both making mistakes on their way to moderate respective finishes of third and fourth.

Some Spin gave his rider just that, though, skipping eight lengths clear two out, an advantage that proved crucial as Good Reception failed to reel him in on the run-in by just over two lengths.


Quivvy Lough – 100/1 BSP 251.42/1
Uttoxeter, September 2. Trainer: Jake Thomas Coulson

Being a relative unknown in the training ranks has its perks in the old SP game and the timely transfer of one Quivvy Lough from Olly Murphy to 26-year-old Jake Thomas Coulson must’ve helped balloon her price at Uttoxeter on September 2.

The six-year-old Court Cave mare was winless in four starts for Murphy and she was zero from nine in point-to-points for Colin Bowe before that.

But that doesn’t really tell the whole story, as she was second twice, both in points and over hurdles, her career-best run coming at Uttoxeter when she was runner-up to Moans Cross for Murphy the previous July.

Back over the same course and distance, what price would she have been with Murphy and Richard Johnson, who had ridden her twice before, next to her name on the racecard?

As it was she didn’t need the assistance of the four-time champion jockey, with Cillin Leonard giving her a fine ride in the Visit attheraces.com Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.

After racing prominently, she appeared to get outpaced with half a mile to go before staying on strongly in the closing stages once Leonard had switched her to the outside of eventual fourth Franz Klammer.

“I don’t think she should have been 100/1, she’d run well here before over the course and distance,” said her new trainer, Coulson, in the aftermath.

But there is little surprise, really, that punters dismissed her chance after her switch from a powerful yard to one that had never trained a winner before.


Department Of War – 100/1 BSP 399/1
Down Royal, January 28. Trainer: David Peter Dunne

Department Of War. The horse where it all began, the first 100/1 winner of the year and the only three-figure-priced victor pre-lockdown.

Back on January 28 everything was normal. We were probably set for something like 7.3 100/1 and bigger winners all year.

Real bookmakers were at Down Royal for the Molson Coors Maiden Hurdle and Department Of War was a bona fide 100/1 shot.

He’d shown some ability on the Flat, the son of Declaration Of War having won on debut for Richard Hannon at Nottingham, but he somewhat regressed after that.

He was last of three in a Listed race behind Old Persian. He was beaten eight lengths in a Ripon novice. He was a laboured sixth at Goodwood in a first-time tongue-tie over seven furlongs.

He hardly screamed two-mile hurdle winner.

Sent off at 66/1 for his third trainer, David Dunne, on his hurdling bow at Leopardstown, he didn’t make it past the first flight having been brought down by Dya Understand.

So you can see why he was 100/1 for his second go over hurdles in a 19-runner field at Down Royal.

But he did it smoothly, easing home under Kevin Brouder, a jockey who would strike on 125/1 chance Le Figaro Faoudel eight months later, to win by four-and-a-half lengths.

We’ve tried to make sense of many of the triple-figure winners in this list, but the first one, Department Of War, is particularly difficult to fathom.

He was a 54-length last on his next and only subsequent start.


*All stats were up to date by close of play 21/09/2020. There were no 100/1 or bigger winners on September 22 at the time of writing!

Published 1740 22/09/2020


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We are committed to Safer Gambling and have a number of self-help tools to help you manage your gambling. We also work with a number of independent charitable organisations who can offer help and answers any questions you may have.
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