How a poker player took the bookies for £1.5m – and why it could have been more
Building excitement every day until the festival
Cheltenham's greatest gambles
Destriero
Supreme Novices' Hurdle, 1991
The cast list involved with Destriero is like something from a work of pulp fiction. A poker-playing carpet baron with a hefty tax bill, his greyhound-loving wife with magic healing hands, a down-on-his-luck horseman back in the big time and a little-known jockey with an agonising speech impediment.
Noel Furlong, who made it to the final table at the World Poker Championship in Las Vegas in 1989, netted an estimated £1.5 million when Destriero, owned by his wife Betty, trained by Andy Geraghty and ridden by Pat McWilliams, beat a strong field in the opening race of the 1991 festival.
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Published on inCheltenham Festival
Last updated
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