Blowers became the longest-priced winner in UK racing history when he took the opener at Exeter on Thursday at odds of 300-1.
The previous record was held by Equinoctial, who triumphed at Kelso in November 1990 at 250-1.
The feat has been achieved twice in Ireland, most recently by Sawbuck at Punchestown in April 2022, and also by He Knows No Fear in 2020 at Leopardstown.
Trained by Nigel Hawke and ridden by James Best, the five-year-old is named after retired cricket commentator Henry Blofeld, and had only run twice previously.
He was well held in a Larkhill point-to-point before being pulled up at odds of 200-1 at Chepstow on his rules debut.
“I was a little surprised at his price but I guess it’s the way the markets go. He’d only run twice in his life and he ran in a race at Larkhill where they did back him that day but his breathing was a problem,” said Hawke.
“We ran him at Chepstow and the amateur jockey we had on couldn’t hold one side of him, but you saw what Besty did on him today and he didn’t stop galloping.
“I think 300-1 was a bit ridiculous to be fair, and I’m not saying we knew what we had but we knew we had a horse with some ability and the owners always breed a nice type of horse.
“He had done nothing wrong at home and just had to learn to race. He will have learned a lot today and he can’t do any more than win – and that’s what he’s done now. He definitely won’t be 300-1 next time.”
“It’s lovely for the owners [Mr and Mrs Pudd] who are West Country people and he’s a homebred, so there is a lovely story behind him.”
Exeter’s meeting had to pass a morning inspection after more than 50mm of rain since Monday, and with conditions described as heavy, Blowers finished three-quarters of a length in front of 5-4 favourite On The Bayou.
Meanwhile, Best was fortunate to get his spot in history having picked up the ride on the morning of the race after amateur jockey Ella Herbison missed her flight.
Speaking to Racing TV, Best said: “Ella Herbison was meant to ride him. I was on my way to riding out on the M5 at ten past six and a random unknown Irish number rang me. Sometimes I don’t answer and I didn’t know who it was.
“It was Ella. ‘Do you want to ride one in the first at Exeter?’ Sadly, she got stuck in traffic and didn’t make her flight. Thank you to Ella for thinking of me and for Nigel and the owners to allow me to ride.
“He was keen the last day so Nigel said with the ground being testing, he was worried they might crawl. Plan A was to drop in last, but then we thought he might relax better in front.
“He was jumping out to his left a bit so I stayed middle to outer down the back. He’s clearly handled the ground, got in a nice rhythm and thank you to all connections.”
