Punters aim to feast on Beef or Salmon
And, if Ireland’s most popular horse, Limestone Lad, wins the previous race, the Stayers’ Hurdle, then it will not only wrap up one of the most successful Cheltenham Festivals for the Irish, it will also mark an almost ritual humiliation of the bookmakers.
It will be a famine for the bookies if punters land the €3m gamble on Beef or Salmon at home. Punters in Cheltenham have collectively laid over 2m on the horse already. And at least that much will be wagered on him again today.
Cash rich after yesterday’s bankers obliged, punters are a lot less apprehensive when it comes to gambling with bookies lolly.
Trainer, Michael Hourigan, says its all systems go today and he’s bullish about a win. “If he gets through the first mile okay and gets into a rhythm of jumping, there will be no problem.
“Three miles and a quarter is a long, long way, but he’s a clever horse and I think he’ll take it in his stride.”
Even if he does win, Beef or Salmon will not be on the market, he added. “Money wouldn’t buy him. His owners are 70 years of age and money doesn’t matter to them,” he said.
Money matters to the bookies though and if the second favourite, who’s now a 9/2 shot, is home first, they’re in for the ultimate roasting.
“We’ve taken a lot of big bets, including €4,000 each way at 10/1,” according to Paul Cashman of Cashman Bookmakers.
“If he wins, it’ll be our single largest pay-out since Imperial Call. We’ll be down over €1m if he comes in.”
Paddy Power expects an avalanche of bets on him today. The Irish chain will refund all losing single bets of €300 or less if Beef or Salmon wins.
“We’ll be looking at a loss of between half a million and a million if he wins,” said spokesman, Charles Lee last night.
The bookies’ misery will be compounded if Limestone Lad wins the Stayers. Ireland’s newest household racing hero would undoubtedly be the most popular winner at the festival as well as being a profitable one.
Punters have backed him from 13/2 in to a best price of 2/1 and a victory for him would lift the roof.
Meanwhile, an incredible day’s racing yesterday formed the perfect prelude to what a nation hopes will be a fitting entree to Beef or Salmon today. Three Irish winners in the first four races and another big hole in the bookmakers satchels. It all sets the perfect scene for this afternoon’s grand finale.
Sterling could yet take a nose dive as the luck of the Irish continues. Eyes were smiling from the very outset again yesterday and how the cheers echoed across Cheltenham as Hardy Eustace romped home in the softening ground.
There were stampedes towards the steps as Moscow Flyer, the Irish banker for the day, zoomed home in the third.
And when Xenophon landed a 4/1 gamble in the fourth, you almost felt sorry for the bookies. He was available at 7/1 yesterday morning but was quickly cut, such was the size of the gamble on him.
While most hoped it would be Pizarro who would be paraded into the winner’s enclosure after the first, it was an opening Irish win and that’s all that really mattered.
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