Oh dear!

A BETFAIR player lost £237,000 on Saturday night when laying winning favourite Peregrine Falcon at odds of up to 1,000-1 in a maiden race at Wolverhampton.

The punter was taken on by three others - including one who traded £209.79 - before the Mark Johnston-trained two-year-old landed the 1m contest.

That transaction cost the layer over £200,000, having been confirmed and authorised inside the opening furlong, yet Peregrine Falcon was returned at an SP of just 15-8.

Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin said on Sunday: “It looks as if the layer simply made a mistake, as all prices matched have to be confirmed before they are traded. The only alternative I could imagine is that the layer was using an automatic trading system and that there was some kind of problem with it.”

Betfair punters have to lodge sufficient funds in advance to cover the trades they make, a fact which suggests the layer concerned is a large and regular player.

Calvin added: “Obviously, I cannot reveal the names of any of our clients, but nothing untoward is considered to have taken place, other than a genuine error on someone's part.”