Unexpected longshot victories at the Cheltenham Festival are very rare, given the high level of competition and the fact that nearly every single odds complier knows the form of all of the participants inside out – or do they?
It appears that in the last 75 years of racing at The Festival, the bookies have only got it drastically wrong on three occasions – offering odds of 100/1 about the winner in the horse racing betting.
Here are the stories behind those three 100/1 Cheltenham Festival victories:
Norton’s Coin (1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup)
In 1989, a Carmarthen dairy farmer paid scant regard to the form book with his 100-1 outsider, Norton's Coin - a horse that nobody was mentioning in Cheltenham Festival ante-post tips.
Sirrell Griffiths had just two horses in training at the time and used to ride out Norton’s Coin himself. His own administrative error meant that Griffiths was too late to enter Norton’s Coin for one of the handicap chases at the Festival, so he entered him into the Gold Cup instead.
The official Cheltenham racecard on Friday 15 March, 1990 read as follows underneath Norton Coin’s name: "More a candidate for last than first".
After milking his cows in the morning, Griffiths drove his chestnut gelding to Cheltenham himself. All the Cheltenham Gold Cup talk was centered on Desert Orchid who was back at Prestbury Park to defend his title.
As the blue-riband race progressed Griffiths started to believe in his horse. "He kept getting a bit closer and a bit closer all the time and I could see before the last that he was going to win if he cleared it," said Griffiths.
As Desert Orchid faded, Graham McCourt took Norton's Coin to the front, 50 yards from the line, for a three-quarters-of-a-length victory over Toby Tobias, with Desert Orchid another four lengths away in third.
It was a giant killing of epic proportions and at 100-1, Norton’s Coin is still the longest priced winner ever of the Gold Cup. As a fan of the underdog myself, I’m always looking for another Norton’s Coin inspired victory to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Poniros (2025 Triumph Hurdle)
A horse that had won on the Flat for Ralph Beckett in 2024 and was the beaten sports betting favourite for the Cambridgeshire, caused an almighty upset when he unexpectedly landed the 2025 renewal of the Triumph Hurdle.
In his first public start over hurdles, Poniros got up to defeat Lulamba by a neck with another three-quarters of a length back to 5-4 favourite East India Dock in third.
Having been in attendance myself for the opener on Gold Cup Day, I hurriedly skimmed through the colours in my racecard as “that horse in blue” nabbed my selection Lulamba right on the line – “who exactly was that horse?”, I thought to myself.
Trained by Willie Mullins, the Golden Horn-gelding Poniros was sporting the well-known blue colours of Tony Bloom and became the joint-longest priced horse to score at The Festival in the modern era alongside fellow 100-1 chances Nortons Coin (1990) and Hipparchus (1954),
Hipparchus (1954 Grand Annual Handicap Chase)
A five-year-old horse called Hipparchus won the Grand Annual at record odds of 100/1, making it the longest-priced post-war winner of the Grand Annual and the joint-longest priced winner in the modern era alongside Norton’s Coin and Poniros.
