As we know, betting odds are a way for bookmakers to display the implied probability of something.
A 200/1 chance, for example, is given an implied probability of just 0.5%… it can be said, with confidence, that such a longshot is unlikely to come in.
But every dog has their day, as the old saying goes, or – in the case of Heavenly Heather – every horse has its day.
Tracey Waggott’s filly won on her sixth start in April 2025 as a stunning 200/1 underdog; in the process, equalling the record for the longest odds win in British Flat racing history.
Racing Heaven
To describe Heavenly Heather’s win as ‘unlikely’ would be a major understatement.
Heavenly Heather’s Previous Race From
| Date | Race | Course | Odds | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th Apr 2025 | Class 5 Handicap | Redcar | 33/1 | 9th |
| 2nd Jan 2025 | Class 5 Maiden | Newcastle (AW) | 100/1 | 5th |
| 9th Dec 2024 | Class 4 Novice | Newcastle (AW) | 150/1 | 5th |
| th Nov 2024 | Class 5 Novice | Newcastle (AW) | 28/1 | 2nd |
| 18th Oct 2024 | Class 5 Maiden | Newcastle (AW) | 66/1 | 5th |
She has campaigned largely at Class 5 level, never winning and with a best result of second place in a four-horse renewal – where she still finished some seven lengths behind the winner.
The four-year-old was entered into a Class 4 race in December and finished last, so for Waggott and her connections to enter Heavenly Heather in a £77k Class 2 renewal was, shall we say, optimistic.
The betting favourite for the race, Cloud Cover, had won a Class 2 fillies’ handicap in her prior outing, which helps to explain the gulf in quality between the protagonist and the plucky 200/1 outsider.
For added context, Heavenly Heather was running 19lb out of handicap, which means that she had to carry 7st 13lb despite a lowly rating (before the race) of just 60.
And so the odds, literally and metaphorically, were stacked against the bold underdog. But in one of the greatest shocks in contemporary racing, Heavenly Heather was not to be denied…
Quick On the Draw
With 3lb claimer Amie Waugh in the saddle, Waggott and connections would surely have just been hoping for a solid run from their charge.
Winning? Presumably, that wasn’t on the radar…
Waugh managed to take advantage of a handy draw at Newcastle, getting to the stands side rail from her number 14 stall. That enabled her to position Heavenly Heather at the front of the field, where she continued to make good headway throughout the seven-furlong trip.
Coming under pressure inside the final furlong, Waugh asked Heavenly Heather for more… and, perhaps surprisingly given her previous record on the track, she responded in kind.
In a tightly packed finish that saw eight horses finish within three lengths of one another at the line, it was Heavenly Heather who, by hook or by crook, clung on to win by half-a-length from Aramis Grey.
There were emotional scenes at the finish line, with part-owner Chris Rain revealing that Heavenly Heather had been named by his mum just before she passed away a year ago.
“We always knew she was a really good horse,” Waggott said afterwards.
“It was just getting her fit enough. She’s such a big, heavy mare she takes that much work getting fit.”
It will be fascinating to follow Heavenly Heather’s career from here. Was her win at Newcastle the unlikeliest of flukes, or the start of much-improved form for the future?
Record Breakers
This was the seventh time that a horse had won at odds of 200/1 on the Flat in Great Britain.
Beechy Bank won a maiden stakes race at Warwick back in 2002, with two punters backing the 200/1 underdog in a double with another 4/1 winner on the card in Legal Approach – a handsome payday indeed.
But one of them had, incredibly, placed the bet by mistake – writing the wrong number on their betslip. They realised too late to change their wager… and watched on, gobsmacked, as Beechy Bank romped home anyway.
Dandy Flame (Wolverhampton, 2016), Intercessor (Newbury, 2020) and Runninwild (Redcar, 2021) are just some of the other 200/1 winners on the Flat, while 2024 saw two winners at mammoth prices, albeit over the jumps: Kally Des Bruyeres following Absolute Steel into the winner’s enclosure as 200/1 victors.
The longest odds winner on British soil is Equinoctial, who was available at an SP of 250/1 when landing a hurdles race at Kelso back in November 1990.
But even these mammoth wins can be trumped by two incredible occurrences on Irish soil, with two victors at Leopardstown and Punchestown romping home as 300/1 outsiders.
He Knows No Fear won in just his second start on the Flat, having finished 12/14 in his maiden outing at Limerick just a month prior.
And then, in May 2022, Sawbuck defied the formbook – having finished no better than seventh in six prior outings – to win a maiden hurdle at Punchestown at heady odds of 300/1.