He Knows No Fear shocks the racing world Last week saw one of those shock results that all horse racing fans dream of. He Knows No Fear somehow managed to beat the 300-1 odds to become the longest priced winner in the history of horse racing. The result at Leopardstown is all the more remarkable as it beat the previous record that had stood for over 30 years. The three-year old colt is owned and trained by Luke Comer. The owner hadn’t managed to have a winner in a flat race in nine years. While most of us would be unwilling to back such an outsider at one of the bookmakers featured on this page , one lucky punter managed to win his bet on He Knows No Fear at odds of 500/1. The punter said that he put a €2.50 each-way bet on the runner after seeing the jockey Chris Hayes produce a similar surprise result on an outsider just a few weeks ago. The action took place at Leopardstown in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden race on Thursday. While the highly rated favourite Agitare was in the lead for much of the race, He Knows No Fear suddenly made a late run for it up the middle of the track and secured victory by just a head. All of which created up one of the most eye-opening results of the year. The result was justification for Luke Comer. The racehorse trainer was fined by the authorities in 2017 for failing to comply with the rules on how stables can be run. This saw Comer being warned with a six-month suspension of his license after he refused the authorities the right to inspect his training facilities. Comer was also slapped with a fine of €10,000 and ordered to pay legal costs of €4,000 by the Turf Club for his infringements. He’ll presumably be feeling much better about things now. The triumph for He Knows No Fear was all the more noteworthy because of the horse’s lack of form. The racehorse was only making his second start of his life. This came after finishing 12th out of 14 runners in Limerick in July. He Knows No Fear was at the slightly smaller odds of 250-1 in that race. But in the end, the three-year old managed to build on such disappointments to create the biggest upset in Irish and UK horse racing. The previous record for an outsider winning a race was held over jumps, and the fact that He Knows Know Fear seized victory on flats was all the more remarkable. 1990 saw Equinocital winning the Grants Whisky Novices’ Handicap Hurdle race at Kelso at odds of 250-1. There was another shock result just three years ago when Killahara Castle won a race in Ireland at odds of 200-1. The win for He Knows No Fear sent shockwaves through the betting industry. One leading bookmaker said that nearly 100 punters had backed the horse at fairly small stakes. Another betting website said that 63 people had put down bets on the colt. However, one punter in Dublin connected to the yard reportedly put down a €100 each way bet on the horse and managed to scoop a very worthwhile payout of €36,000. Interestingly, some of the other staff at Comer’s yard had initially bet on He Knows No Fear when he ran in limerick, but that poor effort meant that they soon backed off betting on the colt again. However, given the remarkable events at Leopardstown, the chances are that everyone will start to see the three-year old as being a much more worthwhile betting option next time.
