Horse racing is notoriously
unpredictable but, even so, triple-figure winners are something of a
rarity. In the history of the Grand National, which was first run in
1839, just five winners have been returned at odds of 100/1. Some
100/1 winners fully deserve their stupendous starting price – and
only manage to win by some outlandish fluke, or ‘act of God’ –
while others, patently, do not.
The victory of Mudawin, at 100/1, in
the Ebor Handicap at York in 2006 is a case in point. Originally
owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum and trained by Marcus Tregoning, for whom
he won a couple of races as a three-year-old, Mudawin was off the
course for 645 days before making his debut for Jane Chapple-Hyam in
March, 2006. Three starts later, he won a handicap over a
mile-and-a-half at Kempton in May under John Egan. He finished a
creditable third, beaten 2½ lengths and 2 lengths, in a higher grade
handicap over a mile-and-three-quarters at Goodwood the following
month and, reunited with Egan, won again on his second attempt at
that distance at Sandown Park two weeks later.
However, on his next start, over two
miles at Ascot – for which he was sent off joint-fourth choice of
the nine runners, at 8/1 – Mudawin went lame and, understandably,
was eased down in the closing stages to finish a long way last,
beaten 52 lengths. Question marks about his well-being appear to be
the only reason that, a month later, he was sent off at 100/1 for the
Ebor Handicap. Admittedly, he was contesting the most valuable
handicap race in Europe but, even so, he had won two of his three
starts prior to his Ascot misfortune and was racing off a handicap
mark just 3lb higher than when winning at Sandown.
Having been held up at the rear of the
19-strong field at York, as was customary, Mudawin was matched at
odds of up to 269/1 on the Betfair betting exchange, but made headway
on the outside of the field with over of a quarter-of-a-mile to run.
The well-fancied pair Young Mick and Glistening disputed the lead
inside the final furlong but, despite hanging left in the closing
stages, Mudawin stayed on well to lead in the final strides to win by
a head and a short head. His starting price, of 100/1, was the
longest in the history of the Ebor Handicap, first run in 1843.
