Racehorses that enter the record books tend to do so for incredible achievements on the track, but a horse called Doom (yep, that was her name) entered the record books in September of 2023 for a much more embarrassing reason.
Doom was the daughter of Dubawi, was trained by William Haggas, and was ridden by Tom Marquand, but she became the shortest priced horse to lose a race in Britain in 75 years.
The fillie started at odds of 1/25, which means even if you stuck £100 on her to win, you would only come away £4 better off. There was £407,000 bet on her at Betfair’s exchange alone, but despite a promising start, she ultimately failed to live up to expectations.
The real kicker here though, is that there was only one other runner in the race.
That’s right, a ridiculously short priced horse called Doom came second in a 2 horse race.
The last time a horse at such short odds went on to lose was in 1948, when Royal Forest lost at Ascot, but there were at least more than 2 runners in that one.
How Doom Lived Up to her Name
The race in question was the 16.20 at Ripon; a 1 mile flat maiden race.
Doom was obviously the favourite at 1/25, while the only other runner, Karmology, started at 9/1.
The only reason Karmology was there at all was because she was local, and still unraced, so trainer Karl Burke thought it was worth giving her the experience in a race with a small field.
Doom, on the other hand, had very nearly beaten Soul Sister at Doncaster a year before (Soul Sister went on the win the Oaks), and showed lots of promise when she came 2nd in a race at Newmarket a month earlier.
There were 9 horses entered but in the end, these were the only two that declared.
With the race off, Doom was ahead with a furlong and a half to go, but Karmology pulled up level just before the end and finally passed the favourite as the pair crossed the finish line, winning her first ever race and simultaneously giving Doom the dubious honour of becoming the joint shortest odds favourite to lose a race in British racing history.