Weekend Review: Layers and backers battle it out at Cheltenham as Gold Cup upset boosts bookies

This year’s Cheltenham Festival saw bookies avoid a horror show amid increasing interest from punters as Minella Indo’s Gold Cup win proved the result of the week. The 9-1 chance secured a Cheltenham hat-trick for trainer Henry de Bromhead, who had already seen his horses win the Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase earlier in the week. Ridden by Jack Kennedy, Minella Indo denied the seemingly indominable Rachel Blackmore aboard A Plus Tard from securing her seventh win of the event. The Festival also provided some welcome press coverage following a difficult week in the build up after an image of trainer Gordon Elliot astride a dead horse was published online.

⭐️ Minella Indo comes of age

A @HenrydeBromhead 1-2 as Minella Indo sees off stable companion A Plus Tard in the 2021 WellChild Cheltenham Gold Cup for @jackkennedy15 #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/3eMx5vOWKm

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) March 19, 2021

Kindred Group’s Ali Gill told EGR Cheltenham was the perfect remedy to reverse the negative headlines. Gill said: “A fantastic Cheltenham festival last week, which felt like exactly what racing needed. Positive stories galore with Rachael Blackmore proving what an incredible jockey she is, Henry de Bromhead looking to have had a breakthrough festival and some great TV coverage across the board.” Gill went on to detail how the week ebbed and flowed between the layers and bettors, with the Gold Cup acting as a crucial decider of the week’s wagering action. Gill said: “After a fairly even first day, day two went just about the way of the layers. But the final two days were where the battle really heated up. Day three saw three winning favourites in the handicaps and the Ryanair and the punters in clover as they cleaned up. “With the festival battle now resting on Gold Cup day, it was the layers who came out ahead as Friday proved extremely tough for punters and we stormed ahead, finishing the festival with fantastic numbers and a healthy margin. “No surprises, of course, that the Gold Cup topped the leaderboard in terms of turnover for the week. Whilst Minella Indo wasn’t without some good support, all told the money was down elsewhere and the race also gave us our best winning result of the week,” he added.

Fantastic to see Envoi Allen up and OK after his tumble at Cheltenham 🙌 pic.twitter.com/SieKRAfVnM

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 18, 2021

William Hill’s Rupert Adams said odds-on shot Envoi Allen’s failure to finish in the Marsh Novice Chase meant a seven-figure saving for the bookmaker, while the Gold Cup provided an historic moment. Adams said: “[The Gold Cup was] one the bet single results in our history. The winner was the best result in the whole book. Best result of the whole week by some distance.” Adams went on to reveal Hills was up overall for the week, with all four days of the Festival ranking inside the top five biggest betting days of the year in terms of turnover, only behind the Grand National. One of the worst results of the week for the bookies saw The Shunter win the Plate Handicap Chase, with the pre-race favourite being well-backed and romping home to victory. Gill said: “Our worst result of the week was the bonus winning The Shunter winning the Plate on Thursday. As a very well-backed favourite, the punters were elated to see him win fairly easily in the end.” One lucky punter made the astute decision to cash out on a blockbuster accumulator for £250,000 despite the potential of a £511,225 win in the offing.

Praying for Envoi tomorrow 🙏🏻 @BetfairBarry @Betfair pic.twitter.com/laX0Zs58ZN

— Paul Dean (@istabraq_king) March 17, 2021

Paul Dean was waiting on Envoi Allen following two wins at Royal Ascot last year and victories in the Arkle and Ballymore at this year’s Festival. However, Envoi Allen ended up falling, leaving Dean thankful for the cash-out from Betfair from an initial £5 stake. Elsewhere, Scientific Games revealed its OpenSports platform, which powers the likes of William Hill, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, recorded a 53% increase in total bets placed during the festival compared to 2020. Nearly 70 million bets were placed with Scientific Games’ UK sportsbook partners, with one operator processing a peak of more than 34,000 bets per minute. Betting exchange operator Smarkets also posted a record activity increase during the four-day event. Across its Smarkets and SBK sportsbook app, the operator passed the £200m betting volume mark for the first time, representing a 59% increase on 2020. The SBK sportsbook posted a 193% increase in active users during the Festival, as well as a 833% uptick in betting volume year-on-year. CEO Jason Trost said: “We had fantastic momentum coming into Cheltenham this year, and to have broken so many records across both the exchange and SBK is a huge achievement. 2021 is going to be a significant year for us, and this is the first of hopefully several big milestones.” The fact punters were kept away from the racecourse due to coronavirus restrictions helped facilitate a swing to online betting over the four-day period. Additionally, Ladbroke’s Alex Apati told EGR how Leicester City and West Ham helped the bookies avoid a whitewash across the FA Cup and Premier League.

G⚽️⚽️⚽️d morning! 😁 pic.twitter.com/ERng2x6ETa

— Leicester City (@LCFC) March 22, 2021

Apati said: “Interesting weekend on the football front; FA Cup results largely went in the way of the punter. That being said, Leicester versus Manchester United was the only quarter-final in which both teams scored, which helped soften the blow a little. “We were also hoping West Ham held on to a point late on as Arsenal were well-backed both pre-match and in particular at 3-1 in-play,” he added.