Everyone loves an underdog story, and horse owner Luke Comer is no stranger to such tales.
In fact, the 'billionaire' breeder is becoming quite a dab hand at sparing the bookmakers' blushes after cashing a 200/1 winner at Roscommon earlier in August. Navajo River turned in the performance of his racing career thus far to head the field and cross the line at massive odds, mystifying pundits and pros alike.
The three-year-old raked in the £6,500 prize for winning the apprentice maiden over a mile and four furlongs, fittingly named for Navajo River's first win. Holding off competition from 8/11 favourite Fisherman’s Beach, Paddy Harnett steered the colt to success after the result appeared a foregone conclusion.
But perhaps fans shouldn't have been all that surprised given the result came almost three years to the day after Comer landed another shock victor at 300/1. That was the all-time record price placed on He Knows No Fear – also owned and trained by Comer – prior to his win at Leopardstown on August 13, 2020.
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It's even more remarkable that one of Comer's two other entries in the Roscommon race, Dark Miss, placed third at identical odds of 200/1. In fact, Comer tends to thrive around this time, it seems, having had three winners at odds of 100/1 or more during August the last three years running.
While he's surely be grateful for his winnings, the owner could have made much more of a mint from any punts he placed on Navajo River himself. However, Comer's assistant, Jim Gorman, later revealed none of the entourage lumped on their own outsider.
Heard of a better betting payday than Luke Comer's turn-up? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comer and his brother, Brian, were valued at a combined worth of £906million in the 2021 Sunday Times Rich List. That equates to around €1bn in today's money, a remarkable empire considering the siblings made their start as plasterers in London, almost 30 years ago.
"This is my first big, big priced winner," jockey Harnett told RacingTV. "It was grand, he's a nice horse and he gave me a lovely feel going down to the start and he's a nice mover. They went quite hard early on and I ended up last coming up the straight the first time but I started to pass a few around the top.
"He gave me a beautiful ride the whole way around and it was easy. I came into the straight and thought 'I'll be in the first three anyway', got stuck into him and he took off.
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"I got a gap when I needed it and he hit the line well. He's not too bad, it wasn't a bad race. He's very raw, that was his fourth run and going forward I'm sure there's plenty of improvement."
Navajo River's turnaround in form is the thing of fairy tales given he was beaten by a combined 80 lengths in his previous three outings.
"I don't know how that happened," said Gorman after the Roscommon run to victory. "He was disappointing the last day and Gary [Carroll, jockey] got off him and said he was really green and that was all of the information I got. Nobody had a bet today – miracles don't happen all of the time. He could be a nice staying horse and please God he'll go forward from there."
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