Gold Cup plunge on Tavern

Bookmakers have slashed the price of Truckers Tavern for the Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup after a deluge of ante-post bets.

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.”