A Weekend To Forget For In-Play Punters

A Weekend To Forget For In-Play Punters

With Derby and Oaks trials well the fore of a busy weekend of racing, it certainly was a few days to forget for in-play punters that matched with horses at odds next-to-no profit.

All eyes were on Nottingham on Saturday afternoon, as Tim Easterby's Obee Jo set a new record in 2019 for the most amount of money matched on figures of 1.01 that went onto lose the race.

A staggering £42,381 was lost in a matter of seconds midway through, as 125/1 outsider Lady Monica flew home under Royston Ffrench to gain a shock win for trainer John Holt and owner Michael Hollier - who named the winner after his late wife passed away.

Credit - Nottingham Racecourse

If that was not bad enough for the punters, Sunset Showdown also joined Obee Jo on Betfair's unwanted leaderboard on 'Most matched on 1.01 losers in 2019' in fourth spot, with his spill after jumping the last in a Novices Hurdle at Ludlow on Sunday.

The six-year-old looked to have the race seemingly in safekeeping, but he veered violently on the run-in, unseating a disgraced Aidan Coleman in the process. A total of £28,225 was traded on the son of Flemensfirth at the most minimum odds possible.

Credit - Racing TV

Narjes defeat at Lingfield on January the 19th sits second on Betfair's list, with £40,953 traded mid-race, whilst Biblical Sunset (£33,905) and Hurricane Alert (£22,738) also make up the top five from this year.

It was a disappointing result for his trainer Rebecca Curtis, who enjoyed an up-and-down afternoon by later sending out Cubao to win the concluding bumper.

(Credit: Racing Post) She said: "Aidan used his whip just to put the race to bed and I think he [Sunset Showdown] just shied away from it. He got a bit unbalanced, but luckily the horse and jockey were both fine afterwards.

"When you look at the circumstances of that race it's really disappointing but we'll live to fight another day."

Speaking of her winner Cubao, she added: "I suppose that made up for it a little bit, but it would've been nice to have two winners from our first two runners of the season.

"That's racing so what can you do," she finished.