200-1 Killahara Castle becomes biggest-priced winner in Irish history

Killahara Castle became the longest-priced winner ever on an Irish racecourse when landing a Listed hurdle at Thurles on Sunday.

The six-year-old beat 8-13 favourite True Self by five lengths in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Boreen Belle Mares' Novice Hurdle for the Burke family from nearby Holycross – trainer John, his sister and owner Elaine, and his brother and jockey Martin.

The previous biggest SP returned in Ireland was 100-1, with the most prominent at that price being Miss Therese in the 1973 Blandford Stakes at the Curragh, beating Hurry Harriet and Cavo Doro.

Dandy Flame's win at 200-1 at Wolverhampton in July last year was the joint-second-longest winner in the history of British racing, the longest-priced being Equinoctial at 250-1 at Kelso in November 1990.

There have been other 200-1 winners in Britain, although they are rare, one of the most notable being Theodore, who won the 1822 St Leger.

Sunday's Thurles contest appeared a quality race, one in which the 87-rated maiden, who had run 20 times, looked completely out of her depth.

However, Killahara Castle turned the form book on its head, coming with a winning effort between the final two flights and galloping on resolutely to pass True Self and Dawn Shadow.

Martin Burke, who alternates between his brother's yard and riding out for fellow Holycross trainer Tim Doyle, said: "We were hoping for a bit of black type, and to be honest we hoped the race would break up a bit better than it did, but we threw her in anyway.

"She's always had rakes of ability but her head is funny and it was just a matter of trying to get it out of her."

Asked what the difference was on this occasion, he added: "They went a good gallop, they came back and she just kept galloping. The smaller field suited her too. She usually races very keenly but settled lovely for me today, everything went right."

There was £1,247 matched on Killahara Castle at 1,000 on Betfair. True Self hit a low of 1.03 in running.

Martin (left) and John Burke pose with Killahara CastleCredit: Healy Racing

This was the epitome of the small local stable grabbing a valuable race, the biggest win of John Burke's training career.

"We have only four horses in training and 14 others that we're breaking, so it's big to get a win in a Listed race like this," said his brother.