Qirat Joins Ranks of Longest Odds Winners of All Time with 150/1 Goodwood Triumph

Glorious Goodwood
Glorious Goodwood (Credit: Kit Leong, Shutterstock.com)

By our reckoning, the longest odds winners in British and Irish horse racing history are He Knows No Fear and Sawbuck, who both prevailed at 300/1 at Leopardstown and Punchestown, respectively. But a 150/1 winner, when it comes in a Group 1 race at a meeting as prestigious as Glorious Goodwood, is also very much worthy of attention.

So hats off to Qirat, ridden by Richard Kingscote for Ralph Beckett’s yard, who landed the Sussex Stakes earlier this week despite being sent off as a pacemaker for other horses in the field!

A Glorious Surprise


The all-conquering Juddmonte Group was eyeing yet another Group 1 victory on British soil in the Sussex Stakes. Their main hope was Field of Gold, the St James’s Palace Stakes and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner. So impressive has the grey been that he was backed into an eye-watering 1/3 by keen punters on the second day of Glorious Goodwood.

Qirat, another Juddmonte horse, was also entered into the Sussex Stakes field, with Kingscote given instructions to lead from the front and set a steady pace – allowing Field of Gold, held up at the rear, to charge through the field at the business end of the race. That was the plan, anyway. In the early going, it was executed flawlessly. Qirat led, despite being pecked by 11/2 chance Rosallion, with Field of Gold travelling nicely in mid-field.

Qirat and 300/1 outsider Serengeti found themselves clear of the pack with five furlongs to travel, which was when Field of Gold was presumably meant to make his move courtesy of William Buick. But Buick found himself somewhat boxed in, so he first switched right and then left to find some racing room.

Alas, Field of Gold could find no extra, which meant that Qirat and Serengeti found themselves in the unlikeliest battle for a Group 1 win. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the outsider Serengeti faded inside the final two furlongs, but Rosallion was staying on like a train… taking chunks out of Qirat’s lead with every stride.

Kingscote was supremely busy in the saddle, a whirl of limbs as he tried to cajole and plead with his horse to get to the line. Rosallion was getting closer and closer as the line approached … but it was Qirat who held on to win by a neck.

It was an extraordinary turn of events for a horse that hadn’t won in nearly a year, and whose best effort in high quality company in 2025 was a 27th place finish out of 30 in the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot.

Kingscote remarked afterwards:

Ultimately, we were there as a helping hand to go an even gallop and we were somewhat ignored early, then took a lead off Wayne [Lordan on Serengeti].

This horse likes the track and Ralph said even though we’re here to help, he can do his best. I feel like a villain, but when I saw it wasn’t a grey nose coming towards me, I kept going.

The 150 Club


By our count, Qirat was the third 150/1 winner on British or Irish soil in a significant race since 2020 alone. Nando Perrado won the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot that year behind closed doors, before Valiant Force landed the Norfolk Stakes at the same meeting three years later from an SP of 150/1. But, of course, ever longer odds winners have prevailed…

Since 2002, we’ve noted 13 different winners at 200/1. They have come in races of varying levels over the years, with two of those shock victories coming in 2024: Absolute Steel living up to his name at Exeter in February of that year, before Kally Des Bruyeres also went in at Huntington in November.

But we can even better than that. Back in 1990, Equinoctial won a novices’ handicap hurdle at Kelso at a rather cool 250/1, while there’s been two winners prevailing at an eye-popping 300/1. He Knows No Fear became the longest odds winner in horse racing history in 2020, landing a Flat race at Leopardstown at 300/1. He was friendless in the market, unsurprising given the complete lack of quality he had shown on debut, but a second outing proved the charm for trainer Luke Comer – his first win on the Flat in nine years.

In May 2022, Sawbuck became the second 300/1 winner and the first over jumps. It was a great day for the O’Dwyer family, with dad Conor on training duty and son Charlie in the saddle. Ahead of the race at Punchestown, the Racing Post had given Sawbuck a rather low-key write up: ‘A modest sort with no realistic chance.’ It goes to prove once again that in horse racing and sport in general, any outcome is possible no matter how unlikely.