Mystery over giant punter who sees £540,000 winnings go agonisingly up in smoke after backing Brighton owner’s racehorse

A BIG-SPENDING punter was £360,000 lighter in the pocket after seeing a monster gamble go agonisingly up in smoke.

Mystery remains over who really was behind the bet.

But they appeared nailed on to net £540,000 profit after backing Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s superstar horse – only to see the punt fail in the final few strides.

Bloom – known as ‘The Lizard’ – is a genius bettor and has amassed an estimated net worth of more than a billion quid thanks to his shrewdness in the market.

He has been called ‘the cleverest man to ever place a bet‘.

But whoever was behind the enormous punt must have wished they had kept their powder dry after the ballsy punt came crashing down at the death.

Sun Racing columnist Matt Chapman reported the monster gamble during ITV’s coverage of the Clarence House Chase at Ascot last Saturday.

He said: “How about this… we know Energumene is owned by one of the biggest punters, not only in the country, but in the world, in Tony Bloom.

“Now, Star Sports report one single bet of £360,000 on Energumene.

“We have no idea who’s had that bet but I did contact Tony Bloom and I said, ‘Tony, have you backed your big gun?’

“He said, ‘yes, I have backed the best horse [but] I read that you strongly disagree’. Uh oh…”

Bloom’s reply referred to Chappers’ column, where our man said there was no way Energumene would beat Nicky Henderson’s superstar chase Shishkin.

And with two fences to go of the 2m chase it looked like the punter behind the bet would be celebrating a gigantic £900,000 payday.

The £360,000 on Energumene to win at 6-4 would have returned a whopping £540,000 profit.

The bookies thought it was all over too, with Betfair releasing a video showing Energumene hit 1.12 on the exchange with two fences to go.

But there’s a reason Shishkin is undefeated over fences.

Showing all the heart of a horse for the ages, Hendo’s hero found more on the run-in and just pipped Bloom’s runner at the death.

Speaking of the massive amounts staked on the race, Ben Keith of Star Sports told the Racing Post: “It was an enormous betting race.

“It was a million miles bigger than anything else this jumps season, the biggest by a country mile.

“We took a bet of £360,000 on Energumene at 6-4 and the biggest bet on the favourite was an individual £140,000 double on Shishkin and Jonbon.

“When it’s a very high profile race, a lot of people say ‘this is one to watch’ but people of extreme wealth, when they get going in the afternoon and one is losing they will have a few hundred grand on the next one at 1-3.

“But as a race for interest and bet numbers it was huge, and it was a good bookmaking race as you were able to get both in.”

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