Weekend Review: Bookies left reeling at Ascot
King George stakes favourite romps to victory ensuring a bad weekend for the layers
Highland Reel’s victory of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot left bookmakers with very little to cheer about this weekend.
The 13/8 favourite controlled the race from the start, and Ladbrokes described the weekend’s racing results as “very poor”.
“Ascot definitely went the way of the punter and the handicaps which usually offer some respite were very favourable for the customer,” said Ladbrokes’ Alex Donohue.
It was a view shared by Sky Bet, with all the feature races going the punters’ way.
“Our two extra place races also went to well backed favourites with Librisa Breeze winning the International Stakes from Ascot at 4/1 and then Kimberella winning the Sky Bet Dash at 9/2,” said Sky Bet’s Sandro Di Michele.
Fair Eva won the Princess Margaret Juddmonte Stakes at 4/6 and is now clear favourite for the 1000 Guineas at 4/1, according to Sky Bet.
“This was great for our customers in two ways, not only for favourite backers but also because we gave customers their money back if they backed against the favourite,” added Di Michele.
Elsewhere, Chris Froome’s successful defence of his Tour de France title was not well received at Unibet.
“We saw a loss in the Tour de France outright as the much fancied Chris Froome gave our punters a few scares along the way but in the end was a much deserved winner,” said Unibet’s William Vickery.
In a weekend with very little football on, bookies saw rising interest in darts as the week-long World Matchplay took place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
Betfred’s Peter Spencer said interest in the tournament was “crazy” last weekend, while Unibet had “impressive” turnover in the final which saw Michael van Gerwen retain his title against veteran Phil Taylor.
And title sponsor of the event, BetVictor, said it had been a “terrific” week of darting action for the punters.
“[Van Gerwen’s] win completed a terrific week for favourite backers at the ‘arrers with the top four seeds, and indeed four favourites for their quarters, all making it to Saturday’s semi-finals,” said BetVictor’s Jack Milner.