Bookmakers happy with festival results as big losers fail to deliver

The aftermath of last year's Cheltenham Festival prompted profit warnings and tales of the worst results for bookmakers at the meeting in years – but things were very different this time around.

Cheltenham Gold Cup day is second only to the Grand National in scale when it comes to betting turnover and overall the results favoured bookmakers, following the trend of the first three days of the meeting.

Sizing John's Gold Cup victory was the icing on the cake with the eclipse of both Cue Card and Native River, as well as the costly error two out by Djakadam, meaning the biggest betting race of the year outside the Grand National was a winning book.

Defi Du Seuil did his bit for punters by winning the Triumph Hurdle, but the failure of Death Duty and the Gold Cup result favoured the layersCredit: Ian Walton

And those who placed their faith in a trio of short-priced favourites on the last day were left with scant reward as Defi Du Seuil's win in the Triumph Hurdle was followed by defeats for Death Duty in the Albert Bartlett and On The Fringe in the Foxhunter.

"Whatever had happened in the first three days of the festival, we knew Gold Cup day was the biggest and most important in terms of betting turnover," said Coral's David Stevens.