$151 to 1 odds: How a rank outsider will hold racecourse record ‘forever’

History was made at a regional Queensland racecourse this week when a rank outsider became the club’s longest-priced winner in its 155 years of racing in a day of upsets.

History was made at the Mackay Turf Club racecourse this week when a rank outsider named Blackshaw became the race club’s longest-priced winner in its 155 years of racing.

Officially starting at the prohibited odds of $151, Blackshaw, ridden by Mackay apprentice Nicole Seymour and trained locally by Joao Serra Campeao, never looked like getting beaten.

In a day of upsets when only one favourite won on the 10 race Mackay TAB card, Blackshaw’s odds blew out to start officially on Tuesday at $201 on one corporate bookmaker’s online site.

Joao Campeao. Picture: Michaela Harlow / Daily Mercury

The five-year-old was a late starter to racing in April this year, had never been placed previously in seven race starts and was coming off lasts at Bowen and Bluff.

Mackay stewards were just as surprised as anyone about the upset win and made inquiries of trainer Campeao to ascertain if he could explain.

The trainer said he attributed the improvement to the gelding’s fitness level because of its most recent start at Bluff.

“Although beaten six lengths at Bluff he did not handle the kick back on the dirt track there,” Campeao said.

Brothers Jose Joao and Joao Campeao with ‘Prelusive Strike’ at Bowen Turf Club. Picture: Louise Jorgensen

It was a well-deserved win for the popular trainer breaking a run of about 70 non-winners since his last on the Mackay course with Chatilly in November last year.

Mackay Turf Club chief Joe Hynes, who has had a long association with racing in the district, said he firmly believed a $151 winner at the track was unprecedented.

“I feel safe in saying that Blackshaw is the longest-priced winner here for certain. Good luck to Joao as he starts a lot of horses here and it is good to see him get another winner,” Hynes said.

Blackshaw’s win at $151 likely to be Mackay record forever.

That record is a similar scenario for other North Queensland TAB tracks stretching from Rockhampton to Cairns.

Long-priced winners in Australian racing, even at the highest level are not all that rare.

The longest was $301 shot Lunar Fox creating one of the biggest upsets when on February 27, 2021 it won the GR 1 Australian Guineas in ­Melbourne.

Before that there was Abarity, which won the 1986 Caulfield Guineas as a $251 chance.

Then again who would ever forget the first Tuesday in November 2015 when Prince of Penzance won the Melbourne Cup as a $101 chance making history for its first female winning rider Michelle Payne?

Jockey Michelle Payne riding Prince Of Penzance crosses the finish line to win the $6,000,000 Melbourne Cup race at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. Picture: AAP Image/Joe Castro

For the record though, it is doubtful if the winning NSW TAB odds dividend for a one-dollar wager paying $1255.10 on Goddess De Vie on a race in Canada on August 21, 2019 will ever be bettered.

As far as Mackay Turf Club officials are concerned, Blackshaw’s $151 claim to fame as the club’s longest-priced winner is there forever.