Cheltenham Festival Betting: Binocular is 999-1 Champion Hurdle winner

Champion Hurdle / Maxliu / 16 March 2010 / Leave a comment

AP McCoy rode Binocular to victory in the Champion Hurdle on day one of the Cheltenham Festival

Binocular backed at maximum antepost odds before bouncing back to his best with stunning triumph...

"Binocular drifted to the maximum price when Henderson prematurely ruled him out of the Champion just under a month ago..."

Binocular romped to victory on day one of the Cheltenham Festival after being matched at maximum odds of [1000.00] in Betfair's Champion Hurdle ante-post market.

Nicky Henderson's charge was in scintillating form as AP McCoy rode him to victory ahead of Kyber Kim with plenty to spare.

Binocular drifted to the maximum price when Henderson prematurely ruled him out of the Champion just under a month ago - just over £52 was matched (£26 backed; £26 laid) at those odds - and £881 was matched at [100.00] or bigger on the one-time favourite for the race.

There were six lucky Betfair backers at [1000.00], with £10 being the biggest individual bet struck at those odds.

The result also comes as a blistering riposte to those who had written off Binocular's chances after a string of recent failures. He was also not considered to be a serious Champion Hurdle contender because of his failure to win the race when he went off as favourite a year ago.

Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin commented: "Kicking King was backed at the maximum odds of 999-1 on Betfair when getting off his sick bed to win the 2005 Gold Cup at the Festival - and now lightning has struck the Cheltenham winning post twice with Binocular repeating the feat. The only downside for the winning sextet is that they can never strike a winning single bet at bigger odds in the future!"

Binocular ran off a starting price of [12.5] and was matched at a high of [18.5] in-running.

Tags: AP McCoy, Binocular, Cheltenham Festival betting, horseracing betting, The Champion Hurdle, Tony Calvin