Top comedian Johnny Vegas thought he was laughing all the way to the bank after backing 28/1 outsider Special Tiara at Aintree – only to find that it had returned just 12/1 on the Tote.
Speaking at the track, Johnny told the Daily Sport: “I couldn’t believe it. I saw it was the outsider of the lot and stuck £60 on it. “I roared it home expecting to pick up a decent wedge only to find that it’s divided on the Tote was a miserly £13.
“I know that it is a pool and the returns are based on the amount of people backing it but surely there should not bet such a huge discrepancy.
“There is a record sell-out 70,000 here today. Are you telling me that most of them backed the outsider in a race where there were several very strongly fancied horses?
“There is no way that a horse should be less than half the odds it is with the bookies.”
The 41-year-old from St Helens, who has starred in the hit TV shows Benidorm and Happiness, said it was not the money which bothered him but the “principal of the thing”.
“I thought I had battered the bookies, only to find that in a way they had floored me. ” he said.
“There are lots of first time punters here today who will have suffered the same fate and it will have left a sour taste in their mouth.
“When Beftred boss Fred Done took over the Tote he promised to make it bigger and stronger and a viable attractive alternative for the punter.
“In this instance it has proved to be the total opposite. It’s a joke and I won’t be betting on it ever again.”
Johnny, who was enjoying his third day racing at the track, refused to let it take the gloss of what he described as a “fantastic meeting” as he spent time out posing for pictures with racegoers and fans.
“It’s been an unbelievable day. The atmosphere and people are fantastic. I even managed to pick up £175 after one of my horses got placed in the Grand National, but I gave it back to the bookie to buy his lads a drink. That’s what the day is all about – everyone having a good time, a laugh and a bevvy as well as enjoying some fantastic horse racing.”
Betfred spokesman Mark Pearson, who’s firm operate the Tote, agreed that the return on Special Tiara was disappointing, but said that overall the Tote had done well compared to the SPs returned on the day.
He said: “The return on Special Tiara was disappointing but was purely down to its support on the course. A larger proportion of the bets than you would have expected were on Special Tiara. However yesterday the Totepool out performed the SP in 5 of the 7 races at Aintree including the Grand National winner returning at a massive 132/1.”