There’s nothing quite like a Christmas miracle. For one horse called Blowers, it looked to many as though he was either on reindeer fuel or Rudolph in disguise.
Priced at 300/1 and with a last-minute stand-in jockey, you really wouldn’t give this a second look; even as an each/way shot.
@thejockeyclubYes, you read that right… 300/1 😲 Blowers won the Priced Up Maiden Hurdle at Exeter to make history as the biggest-priced winner in British racing history 👏
Still very much a horse that was learning to race, the five-year-old, trained by Nigel Hawke, had only turned out twice prior to his win at Exeter and replacement jockey James Best was able to use the benefit of his experience to put him through his paces in a way that saw him obliterate all expectations to come in three-quarters of length ahead of 5/4 favourite On The Bayou.
Best Proved To Be The Best Jockey For The Job
Everything about this race suggested that Blowers was merely there to make up the numbers, especially considering the way in which Best had come to ride him.
The jockey recalled: “Ella Herbison was meant to ride him. I was on my way to riding out on the M5 at ten past six and a random unknown Irish number rang me. Sometimes I don’t answer and I didn’t know who it was.
“It was Ella. ‘Do you want to ride one in the first at Exeter?’ Sadly, she got stuck in traffic and didn’t make her flight. Thank you to Ella for thinking of me and for Nigel and the owners to allow me to ride.
“He was keen the last day so Nigel said with the ground being testing, he was worried they might crawl. Plan A was to drop in last, but then we thought he might relax better in front.
“He was jumping out to his left a bit so I stayed middle to outer down the back. He’s clearly handled the ground, got in a nice rhythm and thank you to all connections.”
Blowers’ last race saw Blowers enter at 200/1 at Chepstow where he was pulled up, while in a Larkhill point-to-point before that, he was well held up.
Without a doubt his next race will see him priced at much lower odds, though clearly his outing at Exeter presented perfect ground conditions and everything seemed to fall into place. A second straight win is unlikely, however, he will be a lot more confident now and might just be worth a punt each/way; especially if the ground is the same.
Whether Best is recalled to ride him again remains to be seen, though there is no doubt that he was the right jockey for the job on the day.
An Unprecedented Achievement
Blowers’ win makes him the longest-priced winner in UK racing history, with this record previously being held by Equinoctial who came in at 250/1 in 1990 at Kelso.
How the horse is handled from now on remains to be seen, though no doubt, Hawke will want to be selective about which races he enters him into as he continues to learn and gain more experience.
Still only five, he has years in front of him and with the right training, there is no reason why he can’t go on to become a top horse.
As The Pogues once sang “got on a lucky one, came 18/1”, Blowers (at 300/1), has certainly proved lucky for Mr and Mrs Pudd whose Christmas almost certainly came a week early.
