The maximum odds that can be traded on Betfair, the punter-to-punter betting exchange, are 999/1, or 1000.00 in decimal. Betfair matches bets at the best price available at the time they are requested, such that some, well-heeled punters lay 999/1 about horses that they believe have no chance, thereby accommodating backers who have requested shorter, often much shorter, odds. More often than not, betting odds reflect the probability of one outcome or another and odds of 999/1 speak for themselves.
However, every now and then – in fact, on hundreds of occasions since the advent of Betfair at the turn of the century – horses backed at 999/1 do win, leaving layers with huge liabilities. A case in point was the victory of Wigglesworth, trained locally by Dr. Richard Newland and ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies, in the Lewis Rally Sport Another Kind Of Horsepower Handicap Chase at Worcester on October 7, 2021.
Sent off 7/1 fifth choice of the six runners at the ‘off’, Wigglesworth led over the first three fences and, although headed before the fourth, remained prominent until hard ridden and outpaced approaching the turn for home. A less-than-fluent jump at the fourth-last fence did him no favours and between the final two fences was described by commentator Martin Harris as looking “held in fourth” as the 7/4 favourite, Starsky, trained by Dan Skelton and ridden by his brother, Harry, made the best of his way home.
Starsky jumped the final fence a length or so ahead and extended his lead to three lengths on the famously long run-in. It was not until the final 100 yards or so that Wigglesworth staged a late rally, making up a deficit of four lengths on the tiring leader from the final fence and keeping on strongly to wrest the spoils, by a nose, in the final stride. Winning jockey Twiston-Davies said afterwards, “It’s a thrill to win like that. It doesn’t happen every day, so you’ve got to enjoy it, but I get paid to push and kick and that’s what I did.”