Irish raider Energumene's defeat in the Clarence House Chase at Cheltenham on Saturday saw one punter lose over €800,000.
The Willie Mullins horse was a warm favourite for the Grade 1 race and attracted plenty of support in the betting market.
This support included single bets of £350,000 at 4-7 and another of £375,000 at 8-15 with bookmakers Star Sports, who revealed the huge bets before the race.
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Energumene was sent off at 4/9 for the two mile chase at Cheltenham but could only finish third after a bad mistake at the final fence.
It was a big win for Star Sports, a bookmaker known for laying huge bets from wealthy individuals.
And the speculation is that the gambler, who lost over €800,000 on the two bets, was the owner of Energumene, Tony Bloom.
Bloom is also the owner of Brighton Football Club and the brains behind Star Lizard, who produce analytical models to predict sporting events.
He is known to be a big gambler and is thought to have been the punter behind a £150,000 bet with Star Sports on Energumene at 100-30 when the horse won last year's Queen Mother Champion Chase, which saw the punter pocket £500,000.
Dave Jolly, the bookmaker’s head of trading, told the Racing Post: “We always look to accept these bets and it was a bit of a different race after the horse ballooned the first. He looked to me like he went through the race well and then got tired before he made the mistake at the last – it looked over for him before he made that error.
“We have the Cheltenham Festival not too far away so we wouldn’t be surprised if there were more sizable bets made during that week.”
“It was taken through the office and we often lay this level of bet, we’ve had similar sized bets before and similar bets on Energumene as well.
"We don’t often publicise these bets, we lay, but it was a high-profile horse in a high-profile race and we’ll always talk to the customer first to make sure they don’t have any problem with us doing so."
As for Energumene, his trainer Mulluins was keen to take the positives out of the defeat.
The nine-year-old provided the most successful trainer in Festival history with a first Champion Chase victory last season and he was a hot favourite to strike Prestbury Park gold once more in the rescheduled Clarence House Chase.
Mullins felt his performance was affected by the white trim on the fences at Cheltenham, which have been changed from orange since his Festival success of last term, and the Closutton handler believes that experience will stand him in good stead ahead of a likely rematch with the two horses that beat him in March.
“He seems to be fine and he travelled home well,” said Mullins.
“He’s just a bit stiff and sore. Sometimes when you get them home it’s three days later, because any horse can be stiff and sore for a day or two and you don’t mind it, but if they don’t recover then you are in trouble.
“Fingers crossed, he’s all right.
“It was his first time going to England and jumping the new white fences, even though he had jumped them at home, and he just baulked at the first.
“It was definitely a useful exercise for us and I’d say it’s something a lot of Irish horses are going to have to prepare for because if you miss the first at Cheltenham, your race could be gone.”
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