Irish trainer wins race with 200/1 shot as another of his runners finishes third at same odds

Luke Comer achieved an incredible feat on Tuesday evening as the trainer watched Navajo River carry his colours to victory at odds of 200/1 as another of runners, Dark Miss, finished third in the same race at the same odds as the winner.

The Galway handler, whose stables are based in Co Meath, has enjoyed plenty of big-priced winners over the years, including He Knows No Fear who won at odds of 300/1 at Leopardstown back in 2020.

And he was celebrating another at Roscommon on Tuesday as Navajo River got the better of 8/11 favourite Fisherman's Beach by a head in the 1m4f Connolly's Red Mills Apprentice Maiden, the penultimate race on the card.

Incredibly, Dark Miss finished a further three-quarters of a length back in third, also at odds of 200/1.

Navajo River was ridden to victory by jockey Paddy Harnett, who told Racing TV after the race: "This is my first big, big priced winner. It was grand, he's a nice horse and he gave me a lovely feel going down to the start and he's a nice mover. They went quite hard early on and I ended up last coming up the straight the first time but I started to pass a few around the top.

"He gave me a beautiful ride the whole way around and it was easy. I came into the straight and thought 'I'll be in the first three anyway', got stuck into him and he took off. I got a gap when I needed it and he hit the line well. He's not too bad, it wasn't a bad race.

"He's very raw, that was his fourth run and going forward I'm sure there's plenty of improvement."

Comer's assistant Jim Gorman insisted that connections did not back the winner and was pleasantly surprised with the three-year-old's performance.

He added: "I don't know how that happened. He was disappointing the last day and Gary [Carroll, jockey] got off him and said he was really green and that was all of the information I got.

"Nobody had a bet today – miracles don't happen all of the time. He could be a nice staying horse and please God he'll go forward from there."