Secretive Royal Ascot punter wins one of the biggest bets of the year as bookies suffer almighty bloodbath
AN ‘inconspicuous’ Royal Ascot punter landed one of the biggest bets of the year – as bookies suffered a bloodbath on day two.
Star Sports’ Ben Keith is none for laying the largest bets in the business.
And he was in the mood to take on former Derby winner Auguste Rodin in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
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After flopping completely in Meydan earlier this year and suffering a surprise defeat to White Birch when last seen at the Curragh, there were plenty of question marks about Aidan O’Brien’s star four-year-old.
But one punter was in confident mood and whacked a mind-boggling £100,000 on him.
Auguste Rodin jumped smartly and settled in nicely behind pacesetter Hans Andersen.
They set blistering fractions and scorched over the first few furlongs before the pace slowed a little.
Ryan Moore always had Auguste Rodin in the perfect spot but the punter with the deep pockets will have had a nervy moment as 33-1 outsider Zarakem scythed through the middle.
But Auguste Rodin’s class and staying power told in the end as he won by three-quarters of a length in all.
Having been backed at 13-8 it meant the punter took home a massive £262,500 – £162,500 pure profit.
Writing in his Star Sports blog, Simon Nott said Keith ‘took off his top hat, gave the team a polite and stoic smile and said farewell for the day’.
The Star Sports team even had to cancel their restaurant reservation for the night with losses on the day totalling about £200,000.
Pain for the bookies but fellow punters were absolutely loving it.
One said: “Love it! This is what we want to see. Proper punting and bookies laying big bets.”
While another commented: “Fair play, they have some minerals. Over a quarter of a million richer.”
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