Kauto wins wings it punters’ way

KAUTO Star ensured punters came out on top on the final day of a bruising battle with the bookmakers at the Cheltenham Festival.

The statistics may have been against Paul Nicholls’s ace chaser but his supporters believed he could defy history and become the first horse to regain the totesport Gold Cup.

Backed down from 9-4 to 7-4 favourite, Kauto Star put in a faultless round of jumping under Ruby Walsh to run out an easy winner and cost the layers in excess of £10 million.