BOOKIES are braced for a £50MILLION hammering on day one of Cheltenham Festival – thanks to a banker four-fold ‘thousands of punters’ will be on.
Annie Power saved the industry that colossal figure ten years ago when the 1-2 favourite fell at the last of the Mares’ Hurdle.
PA:Press AssociationThe infamous Annie Power fall that saved the bookies £50million – but are they in for a repeat this year thanks to the banker day one four-fold?[/caption]
Ruby Walsh scuppered a monster four-fold that day – but a decade on bookies are limbering up for the same again.
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And if even money Kopek Des Bordes and odds-on Majborough win the first two races then it will be seriously squeaky bum time for the layers.
Running in the Michael O’Sullivan Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Arkle, the Willie Mullins-trained pair form the first part of the must-back multiple.
Mullins’ late decision on where to send Lossiemouth means she is odds-on favourite for the Mares’ Hurdle.
And it could all come down to Constitution Hill to get punters off to the best possible start in the Champion Hurdle.
Nicky Henderson’s unbeaten superstar was forced to miss last year’s Festival.
But after two wins this season he is looking somewhere back to his best – and he will need to be in a true race for the ages.
Constitution Hill will be up against Gordon Elliott’s incredible mare Brighterdaysahead, while Mullins’ defending champ State Man is also in the mix.
But it’s Hendo’s hero the punters want to be with, in the hope he can inflict maximum pain on the bookies.
Coral’s David Stevens said: “As well as Lossimeouth, 8-13 with Coral for the Mares’, Kopek Des Bordes is evens for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Majborough is 4-7 for the Arkle, and Constitution Hill is 8-13 to regain the Champion Hurdle.
“We expect the quartet to feature in many thousands of accumulators on Tuesday, which could see liabilities on a par with this day ten years ago, when Annie Power’s last-hurdle fall spared the layers a £50m hammering.
“At current odds the four-fold pays around 7-1, and if the first three all come home in front, Constitution Hill’s Champion Hurdle run will become even more significant.
“It will be no exaggeration to say that industry liabilities will once again be in the tens of millions, as they were ten years ago.”
More to follow.
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