Genius ITV Racing pundit ‘hits bookies for over £1MILLION’ with ‘borderline ridiculous’ 8,249-1 Epsom Derby bet

GENIUS ITV Racing pundit Kevin Blake is believed to have helped punters hit the bookies for over £1MILLION – with his outrageous 8,249-1 tip.

Race planner Blake – who a few years ago put up an 800-1 treble at Cheltenham Festival – somehow picked the first three home in the Derby.

PAITV Racing pundit Kevin Blake helped punters hit the bookies for over £1million with his unbelievable Epsom Derby bet[/caption]

GettyLambourn was first home in the Derby, sealing an 11th in total and third straight win in the world’s greatest Flat race for trainer Aidan O’Brien[/caption]

With a load of the big guns failing, it was tough enough finding 13-2 winner Lambourn.

But Blake tipped up the Aidan O’Brien-trained winner plus runner-up Lazy Griff at a monster 50-1 and third-place Tennessee Stud at 33-1 all to come in the first three when speaking on ITV’s The Opening Show.

One odds compiler at Coral called the combination tricast – where you pick the first three home in any order – the greatest punt he had seen in 25 years.

It turned what was a winning race for the bookies into a huge losing one.

And the firm’s David Stevens said: “It may have been the threat of considerable rainfall that sparked the support for the proven stayer Lambourn, but even without a notable downpour, the Cheshire Vase winner controlled the race from start to finish, and an SP of 13-2 confirmed that he was not without support on the biggest betting day of the Flat season.

“Whilst the winner alone was not the worst result in the Derby book though, further pain was inflicted by Kevin Blake, who incredibly put up the tricast on ITV’s The Opening Show, an outcome that paid a whopping £8,294.72 for £1.

“Plenty of viewers followed Kevin’s advice, to our considerable cost.”

And Paddy Power’s Paul Binfield said: “The actual result was fine as our traders thought that the winner was likely to hit the frame and, in addition, he was towards the bottom half of our field book.

“However, an extra place on the race as well as Kevin Blake brilliantly tipping the tricast meant that it was a small losing contest for us.”

Commenting on the punt on the coverage, co-presenter Oli Bell said: “I’ve heard from the trading floor at Coral that they have lost over a million pounds on the tricast on your selections.”

While the ever-humble Blake said: “I was due one!”

There was some confusion afterwards, though, as the screenshot of Blake’s tips Bell posted on X showed him putting up third-place Lazy Griff to finish second.

Blake also, according to the screenshot, put Tennessee Stud to finish second – but he finished third.

So if that grab is correct Blake didn’t quite nail the perfect tricast… but certainly did land the combination tricast.