Victory for Ensnare could have cost the betting industry £1 million
PICTURE: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)Ensnare defeat sees all-weather coup go awry
TRAINER John Butler, who rents boxes in Newmarket from Barney Curley, was foiled in his bid for a hat-trick that could have cost the betting industry £1 million when Ensnare faded to finish nearer last than first at Kempton.
The 39-year-old Butler, a long-serving employee of Aidan O'Brien who saddled his first runners with a licence in January this year, was on the mark at Southwell with Stand Guard, who scored at 5-2 after being 6-1 on Thursday morning.
He had two runners at Kempton on Thursday evening and the first of them, All About You, also won at 4-7, having been 6-4 in the morning.
Ensnare was as big as 12-1 with William Hill first thing on Thursday but with doubles and trebles piling up some firms were as short as evens in advance of his contest at Kempton, though the seven-year-old went off favourite at 11-4.
Kate Miller, for Hills, said: "It was a well-orchestrated gamble and the cost to the industry had they landed the treble would have been about £1 million.
"Thankfully it went awry andso the damage was negligible."
