We’ve already seen what the public at large have been doing to the bookies all year in terms of bets, and how they’ve also been pissing all over your parade the other way round. In terms of what their favourite moment of the year has been pretty much all of the bookies have been unanimous in their choice.
If the snow had come a little earlier on in the year then betting-wise our top sports bets may well have been dominated by the white stuff – and I’m not talking about Tiger Woods!
It was kind of inevitable that the bookies would all converge on the moment of one great man’s career with gusto.
When AP McCoy won the Grand National on Don’t Push It back in April, the bookies might have got hammered by the punters, but it was an occasion that gave everyone a lump in the throat, and called for the dulcet tones of The Streets and their ballad Dry Your Eyes.
Betfred spokesman Jon Wilde was one of those with a plethora of hanky and tear-receptacles on Grand National day.
He commented: “Fred has always been a big fan of A P and we were proud to have the 15-time champion jockey giving Betfred customers the benefit of his insight exclusively in betting shops on our audio service during the 2009-10 season.
“Make no mistake, Don’t Push It cost us a fortune when he romped home at Aintree, being backed in to 10/1 on the day from double those odds.
“While the result meant we had to pay out hundreds of thousands of pounds, Fred was still smiling because of his admiration for McCoy and the realisation that it was a fantastic result for horse racing, propelling the sport to the forefront of public attention.
“This was brought home when McCoy went on to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year by a landslide margin, a fitting reward to mark the year’s best sporting moment.”
Skybet’s spokesperson, Helen Jacob, also said: “Everyone in the Sky Bet office roared when Tony McCoy romped to victory in the National on Don’t Push It. Despite his victory being a bad result for the bookies, the closing moments of the race and subsequent celebrations were undoubtedly one of the most joyous and unforgettable moments of the year and his landslide win in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year poll capped off a fantastic season, which really put racing back on the map.”
A spokesperson from Boylesports, Leon Blanche, added: “In Horse Racing one man rightly claimed all the headlines. AP McCoy is an institution in terms of jumps riding and it was tremendous to see him finally win his first ever Grand National on board Don’t Push It. Not only did he do that but he also passed the 3,000 winner mark and it is hard to see how anybody can ever surpass the champion’s overall amount of winners.”
So there we have it, the favourite sporting moment amongst the country’s bookies was unsurprisingly dominated by a diminutive Irishman.
