Cheltenham Festival star nearly price bookies £50m – punters are nonetheless in ache

Cheltenham Festival favorite Annie Power nearly price bookies a whopping £50million – and racing followers are nonetheless not over it.

The dramatic second occurred on the climax of OLBG Mares’ Hurdle, with the Irish Thoroughbred falling on the final hurdle, saving bookies a fortune. In 2015, punters almost had an enormous windfall after backing 4 horses collectively on the Festival – all of them favourites skilled by Willie Mullins.

The day was going completely for as Douvan and Un De Sceaux each received their races by clear margins, elevating hopes of the quad coming in. Faugheen adopted its stablemates by successful the Champion Hurdle and bookmakers had been fearing the worst as punters had been making ready for a giant payday.

READ MORE: Cheltenham day one ideas – our champion tipster’s NAP and greatest bets for opening day

READ MORE: All of Sir Alex Ferguson’s horses operating at Cheltenham – and the way a lot he might win

Annie Power, ridden by Ruby Walsh, regarded nearly sure to carry residence a preferred victory racing clear heading in the direction of the ultimate hurdle.

However, the horse misplaced its footing, presumably leaping too early, and hit the ground sending Walsh tumbling to the bottom. Glens Melody, a 6-1 shot from the identical secure, took benefit to win the race and saved the bookies £50m.

“I don’t know why she did it,” Walsh mentioned afterwards. “She was a bit far away and came down under the top bar and turned over. That’s racing, that happens.”

What do you keep in mind of Annie Power falling? Let us know within the feedback part.

Luckily, each Walsh and Annie Power had been okay after the autumn, and the horse went on to win extra races in its profession. David Williams of Ladbrokes defined how huge the autumn was for bookmakers. He mentioned: “We’ve never known a day like it. If Annie Power had cleared the last our fate would have been sealed.

“We someway dodged the most costly bullet in betting historical past and as an alternative of being the worst day we have identified, it is simply been a reasonably dangerous day on the workplace. Nothing extra and nothing much less.”

Fans are still thinking about the moment when Annie Power tripped. @Stuart_James10 said: “The worst one was Annie Power falling that day years in the past. I had a Mullins quad on that might have gotten me about 500 and it fell with nothing however clear air to go.”

Some racing followers can hardly watch the video years later. @juv1967 added: “I hate watching this I was waiting on it to win for over £7500 in one bet then I bet it single had it in another accumulator it still pains me to watch, I still think Walsh was to blame.”

Other followers admitted they had been so positive that Annie Power would win they had been already on their approach to the bookies. @powery75 mentioned: “Never forget that day was half way out of Connolly’s to collect the four timer still hurts like it was yesterday.”

At this 12 months’s Cheltenham Festival, bookmakers Betfair are donating £10,000 to the Injured Jockey Fund for each winner that’s ridden by Rachael Blackmore.

Throughout the season, £5,000 was being added for each certainly one of Blackmore’s winners. But that has now been doubled for the best present on turf.

Proceeds from the initiative are being shared between two charities, the ‘Injured Jockeys Fund’ and ‘Irish Injured Jockeys’, which is able to assist make a big distinction to the lives of jockeys within the UK and Ireland.

Blackmore mentioned: “During the preview I called on Betfair to raise their game for Cheltenham and double the amount donated to the Serial Winner Fund if I’m lucky enough to get into the winner’s enclosure.

“I may have caught them slightly off guard, but I knew they would get on board, and we got the thumbs up. I’m fully focused on next week and looking forward to getting over there now.”