Weekend Review: Tiger Roll stings the bookies amid record trading at Aintree
The Grand National dominated punting activity this weekend as Manchester City secured the Premier League title
The bookies experienced record trading at Aintree Festival this the weekend as Tiger Roll triumphed in the most bet-on race of the year.
Kindred Group’s Ali Gill described the overall festival as an even affair, but the punters came out on top in the big one.
“Tiger Roll had plenty of supporters at the head of the market so the 2018 Grand National went the way of the punters,” Gill said.
It was a similar story for bet365, where Steve Freeth said: “Tiger Roll stuck out like a sore thumb at the top of our Grand National liabilities come flag fall, leaving us in a losing position.”
Sky Bet also said Tiger Roll was the second worst possible outcome for the book, with BetVictor’s Charlie McCann providing the voice of reason: “Tiger Roll was well backed but not as popular as others and the National was not the bloodbath at BetVictor that some layers would have us believe elsewhere,” he said.
The Grand National also broke Smarkets’ record for the most trading volume on a single event, with £57.4m wagered by customers on the exchange platform.
A 29% increase saw that figure smash the operator’s previous record of £44.5m, traded on the same race last year.
Betdaq saw more than £38m matched this weekend during Aintree, with £12.2m being wagered on the Grand National.
Director of exchange at Ladbrokes Coral, Shane McLaughlin, said: “Tiger Roll continued Gordon Elliott’s incredible season and one punter was well rewarded when he matched £4,000 on the diminutive gelding to win almost £62,000 at 15.5.”
In the football, Sunday’s results saw the bookies sweep up with favourites Arsenal losing away at Newcastle and basement club West Brom beating Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford.
Gill said: “It was a weekend of four major results in the Premier League which gave us a real see-saw couple of days.
“Chelsea’s high-scoring, late turnaround against Southampton left the punters miles ahead, as did City’s fairly routine win over Spurs with the four goals and BTTS result hitting us quite hard.
“However, both of those results were eclipsed by Sunday’s shock results, and Man Utd’s inexplicable defeat to basement club West Brom was unsurprisingly our biggest win this weekend and for some time.
“Of course this was also the weekend Man City finally got confirmation of the title and, although that will be a win for the punters, we are still waiting on the final red number on that one,” he added.