Bookies braced for betting storm

Bookmakers are anticipating a record-breaking afternoon of betting on Friday with the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup heading an incredible nine-race card.

Ladbrokes believe £300m (€392m) will be wagered, dwarfing last year’s mark of £255m (€333m) on the Grand National at Aintree.

With Wednesday abandoned because of high winds, the layers are bracing themselves for a punting storm on both the Kauto Star and Denman rivalry in the Gold Cup as well as the races carried over.

David Williams of Ladbrokes said: “It will be the biggest day in the history of betting. We fully expect it to smash Grand National records.

“Festival punters are the toughest around. They’ve spent the day licking their wounds and building up enormous ammunition for a massive tilt at the bookies.”

All the major firms will honour ante-post bets struck for Wednesday’s races as they are rescheduled.

Coral’s race, the Coral Cup, will be run on Friday and the firm’s spokesman Simon Claire added: “This is one of the biggest betting days of the year and to lose it in such unfortunate circumstances will undoubtedly hit turnover hard.

“On the plus side, the incredible Cheltenham ’super-cards’ being staged on Thursday and Friday are unprecedented and are certain to be the biggest betting days in Cheltenham Festival history.

“They should go some way to recovering the sizeable loss.

“This is a unique and extraordinary set of circumstances and we are fully behind Cheltenham’s decision to run our race as part of a nine-race card on Gold Cup day.”