Bookies feel the pinch as the gamble lands in the opening race of Cheltenham.
Bookmakers have suffered a loss on the first race of Cheltenham Festival, with Summerville Boy winning as the second most backed in the race.
Punters were left in jubilation after the six-year-old romped home and bookies suffered their first major loss of the Festival.
In total, bookies suffered losses on 11.5% of bets in the last 24 hours through Summerville Boy, not including each way shots elsewhere.
Despite a few mistakes over the last couple of hurdles, Summerville Boy still managed to pip Kalashnikov and land the opening race of the day.
Even though punters will be very pleased Getabird got beaten, they were damaged by the second most backed horse in the race being the eventual winner.
Summerville Boy accounted for 11.5% of bets in the market, proving a costly winner given it went off 9/1.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: “Despite going off a decent price, Summerville Boy was undoubtedly one of the horses that punters turned to when the rain started to fall at Cheltenham.
“It's also an indicator that people should look for horses who have form in the mud.”
