Shock 150/1 winner Nando Parrado creates Royal Ascot history

We have seen many big-priced winners in recent weeks including 200/1 winner Intercessor at Newbury last week under Cieren Fallon.

Nando Parrado, sent off an enormous 150/1 outsider, became Royal Ascot’s biggest-priced winner ever on Saturday.

Trained by the bang in form Clive Cox, the horse was steered to victory under a calm and collected Adam Kirby ride in the Coventry Stakes.

Bright future ahead

Clive clearly expected the horse to go close when he was quoted saying:

“The only surprise was the price. I think we shouldn’t treat it as a fluke because we had a positive plan for him anyway, which is very much alive after that performance.

“We expected him to run a bit better at Newmarket but the ground was a bit livelier than we had hoped. We loved him and I wanted to give him a realistic timeframe to get to this race.

“He came home in impeccable form after that and we luckily managed to persuade the owner to let us bring him here. I’m delighted they trusted us and it’s very special to win a Coventry.

“We knew he was talented when he came to the yard and he’s not just a horse for today. He’ll be treated like a top-class two-year-old.”

Former Britannia Stakes winner Fox Chapel held the previous record, going off at 100/1 along with 2008 Windsor Castle winner Flashmans Papers.

Dettori joy

It was a day for the 150/1 shots as Frankie Dettori secured a monster 150-1 treble on the final day of the Royal meeting to end the week as the leading rider.

His three winners on Saturday meant that he snatched the crown from Jim Crowley right at the death, a feat that looked close to impossible at one point.

For those of you who are interested, the name Nando Parrado derives from one of the survivors of a plane crash in 1972 in the Andes mountain range that was the subject of a best-selling book and famous movie.