The Unluckiest Losers in Horse Racing History

4 min readApr 7, 2015

Horse racing has a rich history of celebrating winners, many of which make it to Hollywood as blockbuster movies like Seabiscuit or Secretariat — and while they were great, great horses not even they could have overcome some of the unfortunate incidents which happened to these equine (and human) athletes below. We asked Jen Perkins, a horse racing insider at BetAmerica for her ten unluckiest horses ever.

1. Spicer Cub, Pimlico, 4/13/2013

“Do you believe in miracles?” Spicer Cub went the slightly unconventional route in this race at Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore. The fact the 2/1 favorite almost got back up made it even more memorable — but not for the many who had backed the heavily favored runner.

2. Merrion Square, Wincanton (UK), 4/2/2015

As 18 year old jockey Lewis Ferguson approached the final fence in this steeplechase race in England on the odds-on favorite Merrion Square bettors were already counting their money, until this happened. Incredibly the jockey walked away completely unharmed.

3. Zenyatta, Churchill Downs, 12/6/2010

The superstar Zenyatta was aiming for the 20th win of her 20 race career in the richest race in America. What happened next be more heart-breaking than unlucky, but it must be included on this list.

4. Devon Loch, Liverpool (UK), April 1953

The Grand National is a race longer than 4 miles with 30 obstacles to jump. Devon Loch, owned by Queen Elizabeth I (later the Queen Mother) had only 40 yards on the flat to go, the commentator cried “Devon Loch can’t lose……” Oh.

5. Smarty Jones, Belmont Park, June 2004

America had waited 26 years to crown another Triple Crown champion. After 25 years 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 55 seconds there was no doubt Smarty Jones, the 3/10 favorite on the day, was about to fix that. And then….

6. Storming Home, Arlington Park, August 2003

Legendary hall of fame jockey Gary Steven miraculously stays on board Storming Home as the horse veers to the right and still wins the $1m race! How is that unlucky? Those mean stewards disqualified him for interfering with the horse next to him and he lost the race. Bah humbug.

7. Cotai Glory, Doncaster (UK), 9/12/2014

Cotai Glory was a 6/1 chance to win this prestigious race and her owners looked all set for the $60,000 first place prize money with only a few simple hard to go….before this happened…

8. Mystic Outlaw, Monnee Valley (AUS), 10/28/2010

This one classifies as unlucky for all the poor souls who had their hard-earned cash riding on him, you can’t call the jockey unlucky. But you could call him idiot/moron/fool/fired/unemployable.

9. Out The Black, Exeter (UK), October 2006

To win a race a jockey must cross the winning line while still on board the horse, not head-first six yards in front of the horse as happened this time…..