'It's been disastrous, we've lost about nine grand over three days' - bookies count cost of Cheltenham short-priced winners

Rails bookmaker Tim Brown described the November meeting at Cheltenham as "disastrous" after 16 of the 19 winners returned at odds of 7-2 or shorter, while the biggest-priced scorer over the three days was Il Ridoto in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at 10-1.

When asked how bad the meeting had been for him, Brown replied: "Disastrous. For a layer like me who lays favourites and second favourites, it's been very bad and we have our expenses on top of everything as well. They were three losing days in a row for us. 

"We've lost about nine grand over the three days which, for me, is a lot of money. I play with a straight bat. The favourite is always a loser in my book and the second favourite usually makes me in or around level."

He added: "We usually get one shock result but we didn't even get one for the whole meeting. It's just such uncompetitive racing. Look at the Greatwood, for instance. On paper it looked like the most competitive race of the day, but at the top of the hill, the two bogeys for us, Burdett Road and Dysart Enos, were clear. You look behind and they are all scrubbing along so we've no chance of getting a result. It's great for punters, results like these, but not for us."

Jonbon: one of the many winning favourites at the November meetingCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Also positioned along the rails is 81-year-old Neville Emery, who was singing from a similar hymn sheet. 

Emery said: "It's been bloody terrible. We had a right bad day today and the only two horses we laid in the Greatwood were the winner and the third. It was a losing race and we lost £1,200. One of the earlier races was even worse than that. I'd say we're down £4,000 to £5,000 for the three days."

The first three favourites were all successful on Sunday despite the fact Ace Of Spades (evens), Peaky Boy (9-5) and Matata (11-10) all looked in trouble at one stage or another and traded at much bigger prices in running. 

The biggest-priced winner on the day was Greatwood victor Burdett Road at 7-2, while Wreckless Eric at 11-2 was the longest-priced winner on Friday. 

Over the three days there were ten winning outright favourites and one joint-favourite.

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