‘TOTAL mayhem’ unfolded at Chepstow races as a trainer was left ‘absolutely gutted’ after witnessing a 999-1 in-running winner.
Welsh handler Tim Vaughan was counting his winnings when his runner Crossbeau came to the final jump in a 2m3½f hurdle race.
Conditional rider Conor Ring looked in total command as he cruised to a six-length lead approaching the last.
The betting exchanges thought it was all over too, with the horse hitting the basement price of 1.01 (1-100) on the Betfair Exchange.
But that’s when everything went wrong.
Crossbeau took a slight sidestep into the final hurdle and ducked forward on landing.
Ring was flung forwards out of the saddle and still rolling round on the turf when the four horses he thought he had beaten went charging past.
Borodale was the lucky benefactor of 17-2 Crossbeau’s mistake.
Olly Murphy’s 100-30 chance had hit a massive 999-1 on the exchange when looking well beaten.
But the six-year-old gelding hit the front at just the right time and clung on by a nose to get the first win of his seven-race career.
Punters who backed Crossbeau were left tearing their hair out after what happened – with one calling the sequence of events ‘total mayhem’.
One fumed: “Falls at the last with a healthy lead! Grah! Argh! Frustrating!”
While another wrote: “Celebrating a little lunchtime bet on Crossbeau there at 9/1… wah… hhhhait a minute.”
Spare a thought for Vaughan though.
He thought he’d be pocketing a tidy cheque for £3,250 on behalf of the horse’s owners, only to leave empty-handed.
The trainer wrote after the race: “Absolutely gutted for his huge group of owners here but Crossbeau ran a brilliant race for his new owners and we know we’re onto a winner!”
He confirmed both horse and jockey were OK… and even that Crossbeau was none the wiser after his depature.
Vaughan posted a photo of the horse looking pleased for himself walking with his groom, alongside the caption: “Think he thinks he won now!”
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