Heavenly Heather springs 200-1 shock at Newcastle

Tracy Waggott’s Heavenly Heather caused a 200-1 sensation on All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle when winning the BetMGM Fillies’ And Mares’ Championships Handicap.

Racing from 19lb out of the handicap, taking into account jockey Amie Waugh’s 3lb claim, Heavenly Heather faced what looked an impossible task on paper

But she belied her odds to become the 12th horse since the turn of the century to strike at 200-1 in Britain. The longest-priced winner in UK history was 250-1 Equinoctial at Kelso in November 1990.

Heavenly Heather had failed to win in her five previous outings, but Waugh made great use of her draw in stall 14, sticking to the favoured rail in winning by half a length from Aramis Grey.

Coral’s John Hill said: “Heavenly Heather is one of the biggest priced winners in British horse racing history. Remarkably, we took just over 400 bets on the horse, so it has turned out to be a Good Friday for those punters today.”

The winner was named after the late mother of part-owner Chris Rain, who said: “My mum, Heather, passed away a year ago and she named this horse before she died. We was not expecting this – we would have been happy with sixth!”

Spennymoor-based Waggott said: “Marvellous, I can’t believe it. She’s always been a good horse at home, but she’s heavy topped and heavy framed and takes all the work you can give her.

“When I entered I said it was a £750 entry fee but I’m sure she’ll be in the first six. I thought if you took the top two out it’s just like a basic Class Four handicap.

“She was green and backward and took a while to get used to racing. She’s a chestnut filly and her own woman, but I knew there was improvement in her.

“It was so exciting because we didn’t really expect it, but I did think she could be in the first six.”