A 200-1 no-hoper pulled off one of the biggest shocks in British racing history when winning at Newcastle.
The Tracy Waggott-trained Heavenly Heather stayed on strongly to lead close home in the BetMGM Fillies’ And Mares’ Championships Handicap to pull off a massive upset.
Heavenly Heather won at a massive 200-1 at Newcastle[/caption]
The horse is one of nine 200-1 winners in the long history of the sport in this country, with the most recent being Inspiratrice at Taunton in December 2022.
She is the joint-biggest priced winner ever on the Flat, with the British record winner of 250-1 coming over jumps when Equinoctial hit the target at Kelso in 1990.
Heavenly Heather had shown promise when runner-up on her second career start, but in her other four outings she had been well-beaten.
But the four-year-old chose a good time to produce a massive career best when finishing like a train under Amie Waugh in a £150,000 race on all-weather finals day.
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Couny Durham-based Waggott said: “It’s absolutely marvellous, I can’t believe it.
“She has always shown us a bit at home but she is heavy-framed and she takes loads of work to get fit.
“I thought she might hit the top six, I said to the owners if you take the first two horses in the betting out it was a pretty open race.
“I’ve had a 50-1 winner and a 100-1 winner before, but obviously never anything like this.
“We always knew she was a good horse but it’s taken her a long time to get right. This is absolutely amazing.”
And the filly didn’t go unbacked, with Coral reporting they’d taken 400 single bets for total stakes of £340.
Coral’s John Hill said: “Heavenly Heather is one of the biggest priced winners in British horse racing history.
“Remarkably, we took just over 400 bets on the horse, so it has turned out to be a Good Friday for those punters today.”
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