Cheltenham punter lands over £180,000 on the Placepot

One racegoer left the racecourse more than £180,000 richer on Tuesday evening after a day of shocks at Cheltenham produced the second-biggest Placepot dividend of all time.

The spectacular windfall was all the more impressive for having been scooped with just a single £2 line.

Nearly £1 million was bet into the Placepot pool on the opening day of the festival, but by the time A Plus Tard had passed the post first in the final leg there were only 10.5 units left standing, resulting in a dividend of £91,283.10.

The holder of the £2 winning ticket wanted to remain anonymous but is a local man who makes a coach trip to the first day of Cheltenham every year.

He said: "It wasn't until the second-last race that my friend said I was still in with a chance.

"We came in after the sixth race to cash it and thought it might be a couple of hundred quid, but the bet wasn't ready so we went out to watch the last race – we were lucky enough to win again on that.

"We came back in after that race and handed over the ticket. The lady behind the counter's face just dropped. I asked her how much and she very discreetly showed us the amount."

Other on-course winners at Cheltenham included two customers who each collected £36.513.56 for a 40p share, having played in 10p unit stakes, while there were numerous 20p and 10p winners.

One winner was Emma Knight who was in the Chez Roux restaurant as a treat to celebrate her 13th wedding anniversary. She collected more than £18,000 and said: "We come every year to the festival and I always have a Placepot, but usually go out in the last race!"

Apple's Jade, Buveur D'Air and Laurina accounted for 91 per cent of the tickets going into the Unibet Champion Hurdle and their failure to make the frame guaranteed a bumper pay out.

Just 226.99 units were left going into the OLBG Mares' Hurdle and the dramatic fall of Benie Des Dieux meant just 56.01 survived into the sixth and final leg.

The final dividend was more than double the previous biggest festival Placepot, which paid £44,616 the day Lord Windermere won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2014.

The highest Placepot dividend also came at Cheltenham, when it paid out £91,744.50 on the Friday of the December meeting in 2015.

Totepool spokesman Matt Hulmes said: "We know how popular the Placepot is, and with dividends like this it's incredible to think this can be won without having a winner on the card."

Read The Briefing from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com with all the day's latest going, weather, market moves and non-runner news