In-running punters on Betfair left to count the cost as two 'certainties' fail to deliver at Newbury

As if this wasn’t enough, those intrepid punters that like betting at extremely short odds were in for a double dose of disappointment half an hour later when Barry Geraghty, riding Bellvano, moved boldly upsides Ruby Walsh on Cedre Bleu over the last two fences in the Zenergi Novice Chase, appearing to have plenty up his sleeve.

While Cedre Bleu had ballooned the third-last fence and Walsh was forced to adopt vigorous mode, Geraghty sat motionless on Bellvano, reminiscent of Paul Carberry on Harchibald in runnings of the Champion Hurdle. Bellvano shortened to 1.04 (1-25) while the under pressure Cedre Bleu was offered at 23-1.

This sad tale ended with Bellvano finding little, or nothing, on the run-in, while Cedre Bleu seemed much more comfortable without a fence in front of him and with Walsh still urging him along, he came home a tidy winner.

He was given a 33-1 quote for the Irish Independent Arkle and Walsh expressed his satisfaction with the display, saying: “He jumped really well, Lidar was jumping into me much of the way, which didn’t help. But for a first-timer [over fences] he has jumped well. I know that Bellvano doesn’t find much off the bridle, so I thought if I could get him at it, I had a chance and I did.

“It was Cedre Bleu’s first run [of the season] so he’ll improve and two miles around Newbury going a good gallop, I’m happy enough with that.”

Even though Grumeti failed to finish, until his departure at the second-last his display had been a thoroughly convincing Trumph Hurdle trial and it was a marked improvement on his previous Taunton win against arguably weaker, although older, company. With that in mind, it may be best to forget this mishap, which cost him dearly.

Bookmakers certainly appear prepared to adopt that viewpoint for they still cut him to

8-1 favourite for the Cheltenham race and Coral even went 7-1 from 10-1.

King said later: “It was very unfortunate as he had been running so well. We will see how he is in the morning, but we could perhaps get two more runs into him before Cheltenham.

“We could have done without that [the fall], but the Triumph is still very much on the cards.”

Punters fear the worst in Betfair dispute

Consistently I have asked who polices Betfair? Regularly, I have been told by senior figures at the company that they, like other gambling firms, come under the jurisdiction of the Gambling Commission.

But, it has become clear that has not been the case since March 2011 when Betfair went offshore and was registered and licensed in Gibraltar. The Gambling Commission, which has no power over Betfair on this issue, has reportedly suggested that punters contact the Independent Betting Adjudication Service.

Betfair took the decision to void all in-running bets on last Wednesday’s Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown after discovering that a customer, with less than £1,000 in his account, was able to offer to lay the winner Voler La Vedette at 28-1 even as the mare crossed the line, comfortably clear, for a total exposure amounting to £600m. In the event, the bets matched totalled £23m, but the decision to void those transactions has led to a bitter confrontation.

Betfair have been active in monitoring all accounts, reporting any curious or suspect betting patterns to racing’s integrity department. This has led to several 'bad eggs’ being excluded from racing and has also given Betfair enormous power.

Punters have not been presented with the detailed technological explanation of what went wrong last Wednesday. This is a serious worry because the transparency on which Betfair sells its business has been lacking when its practices have been called into question so publicly.

Many Betfair punters will be knowledgable enough to understand any “highly technical” explanation the company cares to put forward. An arrogant silence is not good enough.