Blower 300-1 became the longest-paid winner in the history of UK horse racing

Blowers became the longest-paid winner in UK racing history when he won the opener at Exeter on Thursday at odds of 300-1.

The previous record was held by Equinokial, who triumphed at Kelso in November 1990 with a score of 250-1.

This feat has been achieved twice in Ireland, most recently by Sawbuck in Punchestown in April 2022, and also by He Knows No Fear in 2020 in Leopardstown.

Trained by Nigel Hook and ridden by James Best, the five-year-old is named after retired cricket commentator Henry Blofeld, and has only run twice before.

He was kept well at Larkhill point-to-point before being drawn at odds of 200-1 at Chepstow on his rules debut.

“I was a little surprised at his price but I guess that’s the way the markets go,” Hook said. “He’s only run twice in his life and ran in a race at Larkhill where they backed him that day but his breathing was an issue.”

“We chased him at Chepstow and the amateur rider we were with couldn’t catch a single side of him, but you saw what Bestie did to him today and he wouldn’t stop running.

“I think the 300-1 score was a bit ridiculous to be fair, 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 didn’t do anything wrong at home and he just had to learn to race. He will have learned a lot today and can do nothing more than win – which he has now. He certainly won’t go 300-1 next time.”

“It’s beautiful for its owners [Mr and Mrs Pudd] “And they’re from the western countryside and he’s home-bred, so there’s a nice story behind it.”

The Exeter meeting had to pass a morning inspection after more than 50mm of rain had fallen since Monday, and in conditions described as heavy, Blowers finished three quarters of a length in front of 5-4 favorites On the Bayou.

Meanwhile, Best was lucky to earn his place in history after boarding the flight on the morning of the race after amateur jockey Ella Herbison missed her flight.

Speaking to Racing TV, Best said: “Ella Herbison was supposed to ride it. I was going to ride on the M5 at six-ten and a random, unknown Irish number called me. Sometimes I wouldn’t answer and I didn’t know who it was.”

“It was Ella. ‘Would you like to ride one at the start in Exeter?'” Unfortunately, she got stuck in traffic and didn’t make her trip. Thanks to Ella for thinking of me and Nigel and the owners for letting me ride.

“He was keen on the final day, so Nigel said he was worried they might creep in because of the testing of the ground. The first plan was to drop back last, but then we thought he might rest better at the front.

“He was jumping a little to his left so I stayed center to outside down the back. He’s obviously getting on the ground, he’s got good rhythm and I thank all the connections.”