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2025 - A year of major racing shocks

Updated / Wednesday, 31 Dec 2025 09:08
ASCOT, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Jamie Spencer riding Powerful Glory (yellow) win The Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakesat Ascot Racecourse on October 18, 2025 in Ascot, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Jamie Spencer guided Powerful Glory to the biggest shock ever seen in British Group One when claiming the British Champion Sprint Stakes at Ascot in October

As the racing year draws to a close, we've seen the longest-priced British winner and the joint-second longest-priced Irish winner returned in recent weeks, but 2025 has been littered with shock results.

It took just over 25 years for 300-1 rag Blowers to usurp 250-1 Kelso scorer Equinoctial as the longest-priced winner on British shores when claiming a maiden hurdle at Exeter on bottomless ground on just his second start under Rules on 18 December.

Three days earlier, 250-1 shot It’s Bobsled Time provided little-known Waterford trainer Richard Morrissey with a first winner under Rules in well over a decade when landing an academy hurdle at Naas.

Five of the six winners in British and Irish racing history to return a starting price of 250-1 or greater have come since 2020, with the new normal for shock winners at massive odds strongly correlated with the start of the pandemic.

The starting price mechanism had always been dictated by on-course bookmakers, long after their relevance had eroded to a point where they were responsible for laying under 2% of all bets placed on racing in both jurisdictions.

Change, when it does happen in the sport, tends to occur at a glacial pace. However, Covid and an absence of bookmakers and punters on track hastened an overhaul of an antiquated system.

The Starting Price Regulatory Commission in Britain and the Horse Racing Ireland Betting Committee both deployed a system where the starting prices generated by off-course bookmakers held sway.

While on-course bookmakers adhered to the traditional favourite-longshot bias of taking on those at the head of the market and dodging outsiders by pricing them more conservatively, the models of their off-course brethren favoured similar margins for each runner in race.

That dragged starting prices a little closer to those found on the exchanges, markedly inflating the SPs of outsiders.

While the successes of the aforementioned Blowers and It’s Bobsled Time came in low-profile jumps contests, shocks also arrived on the Flat and at the highest level of the sport.

Four of the 10 longest-priced winners in the history of British Group One races came home in front in 2025.

No Half Measures - 66-1 (July Cup, Newmarket, 12 July)

Having ridden plenty of Group One winners during his time in the saddle, Richard Hughes landed his first as a trainer when No Half Measures landed the feature of Newmarket’s July meeting.

When examining the 'why’ or the ‘how’ to explain outsiders upsetting the odds, pace or draw biases, extremes of ground, the unknown quantity angle and a considerable dollop of luck can all play their part.

No Half Measures had been beaten at a lower level in her two earlier outings in 2025, but both those starts came over five furlongs.

Even at this earlier juncture of the Flat season, it was clear that the sprint division was devoid of a standout performer. No Half Measures’ return to an optimal six furlongs and sitting some way off a strong early gallop that led to a finishing speed percentage for the winner of just 96.81% were key factors in Neil Callan’s mount scoring by a neck from Big Mojo.

Qirat - 150-1 (Sussex Stakes, Goodwood, 30 July)

Qirat only ended up running in the Sussex Stakes to serve as a pacemaker for 1-3 favourite Field Of Gold, but Richard Kingscote rode his rivals to sleep at the head of affairs to become the longest-price Group One winner in British racing history at that stage of the season.

The early pace was so funereal that Ballydoyle pacemaker Serengeti, who was sent off 300-1 and who had far less than the eventual winner to recommend him, maintained his lead until just before the furlong pole.

While Serengeti wilted to finish last, Qirat was able to take over and cling on to deny the late thrust of the fast-finishing Rosallion.

The early fractions were so slow that five of the seven runners dipped under 11 seconds for the penultimate furlong, with Qirat a notable absentee from that list.

His final furlong was just the third quickest of the field, but that was still fast enough to prevail in a race that serves as a famous exemplar of pace bias and what it can result in.

Powerful Glory - 200-1 (British Champion Sprint Stakes, Ascot, 18 October)

Qirat’s place in the record books as the longest-price British Group One winner didn’t even last three months, with Powerful Glory pulling off an even greater upset in the sprint highlight on British Champions Day.

This result really was a head-scratcher, but there was at least something of the unknown quantity about Powerful Glory as the least exposed runner in the field, with just four previous starts under his belt.

Richard Fahey’s charge had beaten just one rival in two earlier outings in 2025, but obviously didn’t give his true running in either contest.

After finishing eighth of nine on his seasonal reappearance, Powerful Glory underwent a wind operation, before finishing last of five in an ordinary race at Beverley on his return from a four-month break.

A notable aspect of Powerful Glory’s victory here was his stride, in both length and cadence. He boasted the longest stride in the race, but one of the slowest cadences. Six furlongs over the straight course at Ascot played to his strengths in a way that the minimum trip at Beverley was never going to, and both hint at a horse that could get further still, even if his pedigree does not.

Cicero’s Gift - 100-1 (Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot, 18 October)

Just over an hour after Powerful Glory’s shock, Cicero’s Gift ran the race of his life in the QEII to leave his previous form behind.

After his underwhelming display at Goodwood, this was billed as the race that would restore Field Of Gold’s reputation as the best miler in Europe, but the favourite could only finish fifth.

Like Powerful Glory’s win, there didn’t seem to be anything of a fluke about Cicero’s Gift’s victory, with both winners setting new race records on a fast surface.

Cicero’s Gift’s had the lowest official rating in the field, but at least came into the race as a horse in form after a win last time out at Sandown.

His earlier successes and comments from connections suggested that give underfoot was a prerequisite for him to outrun his odds, but he defied his doubters and the betting market to score by a length and a quarter under Jason Watson.

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