Historic Win for Crokes Cross
When Crokes Cross made history in horse racing, her owner Kevin Mercer was unable to witness the moment firsthand. The seven-year-old mare matched the UK racing record for the longest-priced winner at odds of 300/1.
The victory took place at Kelso racecourse in the Scottish Borders, approximately 25 miles (40km) from Kevin's home in Fountainhall. However, he was occupied with a work meeting and missed the event.
Kevin Mercer, 43, was attending a meeting related to his role at Harbro, an animal feed company based in Hawick. He only became aware of the unexpected win when his mobile phone began receiving numerous messages.
Growing up in the countryside, Kevin has always been familiar with horses, which now also form part of his professional life.
"Part of my job involves dealing with racehorse trainers to supply the feed into most of the huge number of racing yards in Scotland and the north of England," he said.
Following his sponsorship of a race at Kelso and enjoying the hospitality, Kevin and a group of friends decided to become more involved in horse ownership.
"They thought - after some drink - that it would be a good idea to try and get involved in ownership of horses," he explained.
Since then, the syndicate of family and friends has had five or six horses trained locally by Stuart Coltherd. Kevin is registered as co-owner of Crokes Cross alongside the trainer.
Despite the thrilling finish where Crokes Cross took honours ahead of stablemate Changemyluck earlier this month, Kevin was not present at the track.
"I wasn't at Kelso, I had a meeting at one of our production sites, so I was otherwise engaged that day," he said.
"I didn't actually tell any of the guys that I was in the meeting with that the horse was running."
Kevin soon realized something significant had occurred when members of his syndicate, which includes his mother, auntie, sister, and friends from football, began contacting him.
"Everyone was chuffed to bits and I'm sitting in a meeting with my phone on silent and it's lighting up and buzzing away with everyone trying to get in touch," he said.
"A little bit disappointed we weren't there, but these things happen, unfortunately."
There was some consolation for Kevin in the form of a £10 each-way bet he placed "more in hope than anything else," which yielded winnings of over £3,000.
Crokes Cross was running for the first time under Kevin and his friends and family, as well as with her new trainer.
She became the fourth horse to win for the syndicate but has attracted far more attention than the others.
"They've all meant something to us, but probably nobody else remembers," said Kevin.
"Whereas now you've got a horse that will always be etched in history books at Kelso and in British racing."
Future Plans and Record Context
Regarding future races, the syndicate has no definite plans for Crokes Cross, but she is unlikely to be such a longshot again.
"I think the days of 300/1 will be long gone," Kevin admitted.
The record she matched was set only a few months prior at Exeter, when Nigel Hawke-trained Blowers won at the same odds.
Before that, the record stood at 250-1 for 35 years, set by Equinoctial in 1990, also at Kelso.
Racecourse managing director Jonathan Garratt commented on the nature of such results.
"There was no specific reason the track threw up such results but added that good prize money attracted a mix of horses from both large and smaller yards."
"The chances of representatives from the larger yards can sometimes be overestimated, which can lead to other runners being exceptionally good value in the betting," he added.
