Weekend Review: Tiger Roll leaves punters purring as bookies avoid Grand National disaster
One high-stakes punter puts a dent in Kindred Group while William Hill dodges a £200m payout on the 4/1 favourite
The Grand National dominated the betting action this weekend as Tiger Roll became the first horse since Red Rum to win the Aintree race twice in a row.
Tiger Roll, ridden by Davy Russell, was level with Magic of Light (66-1) going over the last fence, but the Gordon Elliot-trained horse eased clear to repeat last year’s win.
Ruby Walsh finished third riding on Rathvinden (8-1) while Walk in the Mill (25-1) came fourth.
William Hill’s Rupert Adams said: “On Wednesday last week we were predicting a Tiger Roll payout of between £170m and £200m but astonishingly the gamble never occurred.
The man himself #TigerRoll pic.twitter.com/5phnemAoX0
— Davy Russell (@_Davy_Russel_) April 7, 2019
“In the end Tiger Roll went off about the seventh worst result in the book – clearly it could have been better but we would have taken that all day long.”
Bet365’s Steve Freeth said the Stoke-headquartered operator also managed to avoid disaster due to the horses that placed behind Tiger Roll.
“It was a losing race for us with the Tiger Roll and Rathvinden being the best-backed horses in the race, plus we also had the Money Back Offer on the Grand National,” said Freeth.
“The other places weren’t too bad though and I certainly wouldn’t place it in the ‘horrific’ category,” he added.
One high-stakes punter cost Kindred Group significantly according to the operator’s racing sportsbook analyst, Ali Gill.
“Aintree overall went to the players, with a number of favourites and well-backed horses doing the business over the three-day festival,” he said.
“The Grand National itself ended as our biggest loser of the festival, but mainly down to one punter lumping some huge stakes on Tiger Roll.
“Him aside, we just about broke even on record turnover for the race,” he added.
The Grand National also took centre stage for GVC-owned exchange Betdaq, with £10.5m matched on the big race and £37m matched across the entire festival.
Betdaq’s Eamon Moran said: “Tiger Roll was hugely popular with punters, including one lucky customer who won more than £23k from a bet at 6.6/1.”
Away from the horseracing, William Hill enjoyed a very good weekend on the football outside the two FA Cup semi-finals happening at Wembley.
Adams said: “Football was obviously overshadowed by the racing but in general results were pretty good.
“Saturday was fairly good with Luton, Bristol City and Leeds all failing to win while Sunday was even better with Arsenal, Napoli, PSG, Wolves and Lazio all failing to win.”
⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/GwULSrx0mh
— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) April 7, 2019
Kindred experienced a mixed weekend in the Premier League, starting out with Liverpool’s 3-1 win at Southampton on Friday night.
“Liverpool’s win over Southampton was both our biggest event of the weekend and our biggest loser, with Henderson’s late goal adding to the punters’ winnings,” said Gill.
“However, Everton’s defeat of top-four chasing Arsenal was as much a positive for us as it was a negative for Arsenal and we clawed all those losses and some more on top back in this one.
“Burnley’s away defeat of Bournemouth added some shine to the weekend, with victories for Palace and Leicester being small losers for the Kindred book,” he added.