Layers dodge '£40m' bullet as Moore just fails to land four-timer

ITV Racing commentator Richard Hoiles described it as the photo "that saved the bookmakers millions" and layers were in agreement after Bravery scuppered a Ryan Moore four-timer at Doncaster on Saturday that Coral's Simon Clare said had shades of Frankie Dettori's magnificent seven at Ascot in 1996.

Moore wasted little time starting the Flat season with a bang, steering Tupi (7-1), Ballet Concerto (8-1) and Kool Kompany (7-1) to victory in the first three races on Doncaster's card for a 575-1 treble. Bookmakers were starting to fear a huge payout that one layer estimated would have weighed in at a combined £40 million across the industry if Oh This Is Us, the rider's heavily backed mount in the Betway Lincoln, was successful.

A top-priced 14-1 in the morning, Richard Hannon's runner was sent off the 7-2 favourite and looked like delivering, only to be denied by a neck by the 20-1 shot Bravery.

Ryan Moore gets the ball rolling with victory on TupiCredit: Edward Whitaker

Coral spokesman Clare, who recalled the day Dettori brought the bookmaking industry to its knees when riding all seven winners on the card at Ascot, said: "I was watching the racing thinking it would be a quiet start to the Flat season, but I've been in touch with the traders all afternoon – particularly in the last hour – and they were scrambling around hedging into the ring and getting positions.

"We were bottom price that horse this morning – we quite liked its chance from a form point of view – and while there were some punters backing Moore because they'd seen him have a treble, most of the money was the off-course industry piling their money on to it to offset the liabilities they faced.

"There really were shades of Dettori day. I know it was just the fourth and not seventh and it wasn't quite the prestige of the QEII meeting Dettori did it at, but there are still many thousands of Saturday punters who have multiples of their favourite jockeys, and Ryan Moore is the most popular Flat rider.

"Bravery's last-gasp effort saved us £2.5 million, most of which was in our shops, and that reflects that it is the traditional punter who places those bets.

"If Oh This Is Us had won it would've been a great story for punters and it's a big relief he didn't win – you don't want to go into Grand National week millions of pounds behind where you're supposed to be."

Nicola McGeady of Ladbrokes said her firm was saved a "monumental payout", while bet365's Pat Cooney added: "It was the biggest swing in our history – Annie Power's fall at Cheltenham a distant second."

Betfair spokesman Barry Orr said: "We were staring into a Moore-made vortex of never-seen-before proportion and it's probably safe to assume Moore getting chinned a neck on Oh This Is Us was an industry swing of around £40 million."

"Annie Power's unfortunate tumble at Cheltenham went down in bookmaking history as an industry saver, but pictures of Bravery will be going up in trading rooms up and down the land tonight."

For Paddy Power, Paul Binfield said: "That was a very important neck as it saved us seven figures. There is a God!"

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