'He should have been 1-4!' - reliving the only joyful day in British racing history when everything went wrong for the bookies

A precise date and time is available for the most feverish moment in British racing history. It was 5.36pm on Saturday, September 28, 1996, when the stalls opened for the Gordon Carter Handicap, the final race on day one of Ascot's Festival of British Racing.

It shouldn't have mattered much, not compared to the earlier glamorous Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, with its thrilling duel of the Guineas winners, Mark Of Esteem and Bosra Sham. The Gordon Carter was a Class 3 affair for horses rated 95 or less, run-of-the-mill stuff. British racedays, even the really good ones, don't build to a climax. The meat is in the middle and what follows is a nice bit of dessert if you fancy it.

But this was a day unlike any other, when expectations were exploded and the impossible took vivid shape before our disbelieving eyes. Most of all, this was the day when significant wealth was redistributed across the land by a cheeky 25-year-old jockey on the brink of sudden fame.