Shellshocked punters lose over £10,000 as 999-1 outsider lands huge upset and £24,000 payday for in-running backers

A vintage Brian Hughes ride at @DoncasterRaces as the champion jockey gets Clear White Light up on the line for @adrian_keatley…pic.twitter.com/tFWIlecBuX

— Sky Sports Racing (@SkySportsRacing) January 10, 2023

Clear White Light lost ground after the final hurdle and looked a beaten horse

The horse in second hit the maximum odds of 1000 (999-1) on the Betfair Exchange

Incredibly, champion jockey Hughes got the horse up to win in the final strides

Some £24 was matched in-running on champion jockey Hughes’ ride in the closing stages of the 2m3½f handicap hurdle at Doncaster on Tuesday.

Even at the biggest available odds it looked a forlorn punt with Garde Des Champs nursing a seemingly unbeatable lead.

But he idled in the final 110 yards and Clear White Light, under Hughes’ flat out efforts, pounced.

Hughes joined Garrity with the post fast approaching and squeezed in front a couple of strides from the end.

The jaw-dropping finish meant those who put £10,800 on Garde Des Champs to win at the shortest odds of 1.01 lost their money.

While the lucky few – or it could have been just one punter – who put money on Clear White Light celebrated a 999-1 winner.

Hughes’ ride was similar to that of Sean Bowen – whose heroics at Ffos Las last week ‘had to be seen to be believed’.

The Welsh jockey was, like Hughes, seemingly out of it on Best Trition only for the pair to nick it on the line.

Hughes’ ride was every bit as good as Bowen’s, with one stunned punter writing in reply to a clip of it: “How?”

Another wrote: “Brian Hughes. Champion jockey for a reason.”

While another comment read: “A vintage Brian Hughes ride.”

That £24,000 return was just over half what one punter netted from Kempton last Saturday night.

Another Betfair punter picked the winners of four straight races to scoop £40,000 – only to see another bet which would have paid £260,000 come agonisingly close.