Bookmaker reaction: 'It was one of the best single results in our history'

Rachael Blackmore's glorious Cheltenham week may not have come to a fairytale conclusion when she chose to ride A Plus Tard over Gold Cup-winning stablemate Minella Indo, but that decision proved an excellent one for the bookmakers.

Firms had battled back and forth with punters all week and Blackmore's success, particularly on the heavily backed Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle and Telmesomethinggirl in the Mares Novices' Hurdle, were costly for layers.

However, the Gold Cup is by far the biggest betting race of the week and the pendulum swung in their favour when 9-1 shot Minella Indo held off A Plus Tard and the hat-trick-seeking Al Boum Photo, wins for either of whom would have been disastrous for bookmakers.