Gummy Racing

Punters' fury as Betfair refuses to pay out millions after mistakenly offering 28-1 mid-race odds on huge favourite
Odds of 28-1 were offered on favourite in Leopardstown race
Bookmakers faced a potential loss of £600m 
By David Gerges
Bookmakers Betfair are facing a backlash from customers after they reversed a payout that was set to cost them millions.
Odds of 28-1 had been offered by the gambling firm on the outright favourite in the 2pm woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle.
That led to a flurry of betting in which a total of £1,642,094 was matched on Voler La Vedette.
 In-play mistake: Andrew Lynch steers runaway favourite Voler La Vedette to victory at Leopardstown
And when the horse strolled to a comfortable victory, thousands of customers expecting a grand scale payout were told that all betting had been declared void following a technical error.
A statement from Betfair customer services read: 'Customers betting in-play on this race will have seen that Voler La Vedette was available to back at 29 when the in-running market was suspended, and that a considerable sum was matched on the clear winner at that price.
'An investigation has revealed that this was due to an obvious technical failure which allowed a customer to exceed their exposure limit.
'In accordance with our terms and conditions, all in running bets on this race, both win and place, will be made void.
'We fully appreciate the dissatisfaction this will cause many customers, and apologise for a very poor customer and betting experience.'
 Double joy: Jockey Andrew Lynch had also triumphed in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle after ridding to victory on horse Cash and Go
A Betfair graph showed over £21million was offered to back Colm Murphy's mare at those odds, even though she was always in contention and looked the obvious winner even before the final flight.
This meant one layer could potentially have lost £600million in only a few minutes if all of the money had been matched.
Betfair suspended the market in order to investigate, with many of the exchange's members in a state of shock on the website's forum.

Bin End to make up for fall last time at 11-2


Bin End
3.35 Leicester
1pt win at 11-2 generally (6-1 with Ladbrokes)


Grams And Ounces is a strongly-supported favourite on the back of Thursday's win at Hereford, but trainer John Flint is just one from 18 with horses reappearing within seven days of a win, and he carries a 7lb penalty for winning by justa neck, albeit a ready one, writes Ben Hutton.


3.35 Leicester card


Royal Opera is ahead of his handicap mark having finished second to a progressive sort at Musselburgh, but he'll be taken on for the lead by Enfant De Lune, and Bin End could prove to be even better handicapped.


The Barry Brennan-trained five-year-old certainly wasn't beaten when falling two out in a Grade 2 at Ascot last time and this performance, allied with his five-length maiden hurdle win over course and distance, suggests he has the potential to be quite a bit ahead of his current mark of 114.

Finians Rainbow Won at 4/11 Total Profit 24.55


BET 4.1pts win (nap) ALLEE GARDE (1.25 Leopardstown)

2 Losers Wishful Thinking Lay

Shake-A-Bet so far 15 Selections 5 Winners Level Stakes Profit Of 4.04
L L W 4/6 L L W 5/1 L W 15/8 W 9/2 L L W 5/4 L L L W 11/4 L L




Short Price 50p-£1 3.35 L Grams And Ounces




Mid Price 50p-£3 3.45 L Bold Ring




Long Price 50p-£10 2.30 L Nothinbutthetruth