Boylesports were just one of the firms hammered by punters on Tuesday. (credit: Will Palmer)
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The first four races at the 2011 Cheltenham Festival has cost Boylesports £515,000, after they promised to refund all losing single bets on the runner-up in the first four races of the meeting.
Boylesports refunded £190,000 to those who backed the heavily fancied runner-up in the Cheltenham Festival opener, Spirit Son. Another of Nicky Henderson’s charges, Finian’s Rainbow was beaten into second in the Arkle, costing Ireland’s largest independent bookmaker a further £165,000.
Race three, the Stewart Family Spinal Research Handicap Chase saw Alan King’s Bensalem pip Carole’s Legacy while in the day’s highlight, The Champion Hurdle, Hurricane Fly beat Peddlers Cross. Boylesports paid back £42,000 and £118,000 respectively to those who backed the second placed horse in either race.
The Irish firm were also hit hard by the Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins duo of Hurricane Fly and Quevega. The punters latched onto these Irish bankers, costing the bookmaker in excess of a million pounds through a series of single and multiple bets.
“Our ‘Every Second Counts’ offer has proved hugely popular among punters and we hope it’s contributed to a fantastic start to the Festival for Boylesports customers,” comments Leon Blanche, Boylesports.com Head of PR. “Although the concession itself cost us a half million pounds, it seems a small sum relative to the million plus pay out we’ve had to make on the Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins duo of Hurricane Fly and Quevega”
