Gold Cup plunge on Truckers Tavern
Ferdy Murphy’s eight-year-old has been nominated for the race on a well-known tipping line, prompting punters to cash in on the 25-1 available with Coral and the 20-1 Ladbrokes were offering.
Coral initially shortened Truckers Tavern to 20-1 after laying him to lose a six-figure sum, but cut him to 14-1 after money for the horse continued.
“This tipping line has a major following and our liabilities on Truckers Tavern are now well over a quarter of a million pounds,” said Coral spokesman Simon Clare.
Ladbrokes now have last year’s Gold Cup runner-up as a 12-1 shot for the big race.
The firm’s Balthazar Fabricius said: “This is a tipping-line gamble, pure and simple. We laid over six grand’s-worth in about six minutes once the horse had been put up at 12.30pm.”
Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup betting:
Coral: 6-4 Best Mate, 8-1 Keen Leader, Beef Or Salmon, Kingscliff, 12-1 Jair Du Cochet, Strong Flow, 14-1 Truckers Tavern, Sir Rembrandt, 16-1 First Gold, Heros Collonges, 25-1 La Landiere, Hussard Collonges, 33-1 Irish Hussar, Valley Henry, 40-1 bar.
Ladbrokes: 7-4 Best Mate, 8-1 Beef Or Salmon, Kingscliff, 10-1 Jair Du Cochet, Sir Rembrandt, 12-1 First Gold, Keen Leader, Truckers Tavern, 20-1 Hussard Collonges, One Knight, 25-1 Irish Hussar, La Landiere, Valley Henry, 33-1 It Takes Time, 40-1 bar.
Meanwhile, trainer Richard Fahey was yesterday fined £1,600, jockey Dale Swift banned for 10 days and the horse Market Avenue suspended from running for 40 days at a Jockey Club inquiry.
The trio were all penalised after the disciplinary committee inquired into Market Avenue’s performance in the Whitby Handicap at Redcar on October 28.
The four-year-old was beaten into sixth place behind St Petersberg, and although her run was not inquired into by the local stewards, the Jockey Club’s special monitoring system picked up on the race.
Market Avenue, a five-time winner, was slowly away under Swift and despite making some headway two furlongs out, she was beaten just over nine lengths.
The panel heard evidence from both Swift and Fahey, who was legally represented, and they also viewed video recordings of the race.
Swift stated his instructions were to settle the filly in, cover her up and come late.
The rider said that, having covered her up, he was frightened of clipping heels and consequently pulled her out.
He claimed he then panicked and did not make an effort as he was frightened of getting there too soon, and he accepted he had ridden an ill-judged race.
However, the panel rejected his explanation as they felt the video evidence showed no sign of panic or indecision.
They found Swift to be in breach of rule 157, in that he had intentionally not asked the filly for sufficient effort.
They were also not satisfied that Swift’s ride was a consequence of a failure to follow the instructions given by the Malton trainer.
The panel thought it unlikely that a rider of Swift’s experience, riding for his employer, would have ridden in that way if it was against the trainer’s instructions.
Fahey was therefore found to be in breach of rule 155 (ii), which states it is a trainer’s duty to ensure a jockey is given instructions that will ensure a horse runs on its merits.
Swift will be out of action from December 26 to January 5 on days on which racing is scheduled to take place.
Market Avenue is suspended from running from December 23 to January 31.
