16th March 2007
Jump racing’s first million pound bonus has been won in tremendous style by the sport’s new hero, Kauto Star. Winning the Gold Cup at Cheltenham secured not only this prestigious title but a one million pound jackpot for the horse’s connections.
The bonus prize was offered by Betfair, the world’s leading betting exchange, for any horse which could win the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the King George at Kempton and today’s Gold Cup, in a single season.
Owner Clive Smith was celebrating his massive payout at Cheltenham. He said on winning: “I can’t tell you how thrilled I am. This is a very generous offer from Betfair. It is good for racing and it has created interest from outside of the sport.”
Clive Smith has had faith in the horse’s ability from an early stage. He started backing Kauto Star on Betfair for the Gold Cup last year at odds of 139-1 and he continued to back it up until the day at odds as short as 6-4.
Whilst the owner stands to win the bulk of the bonus, this is also an enormous fillip for the other connections of the horse. Trainer Paul Nicholls and jockey Ruby Walsh win ten per cent each, whilst the stable staff will see a £50,000 jackpot divided between them.
Betfair’s Managing Director, Corporate Affairs, Mark Davies, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the Betfair Million has been won, particularly in such impressive style by such a talented horse. We created what we believed was a challenging yet winnable bonus to bring fresh excitement to the jumps racing season. We hope that we have achieved that and we offer our warmest congratulations to all the connections.”
Notes to editors:
1. The ‘Betfair Million’ series comprised of the Grade 1 Betfair Chase at Haydock on 18 November 2006, the King George at Kempton on 26 December 2006 OR the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown on 28 December 2006, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on 16 March 2007.
2. 75 per cent of the winnings will go to the owner at the time of the completion of the treble, with similarly 10 per cent each going to the trainer and jockey, and 5 per cent to the stable staff.
3. Betfair pioneered the concept of 'exchange betting' - a new form of bookmaking that uses internet technology to enable punters to bet at odds set by other punters, rather than a bookmaker. Betfair employs around 1200 people, matches over 5,000,000 bets every day (up to 12,000 every minute), and has over 900,000 registered customers.
4. The company has won several high-profile awards, notably the Ernst and Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002 and the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2003. Further recognition came in 2004 when Betfair won three awards, including CBI's Growing Business of the Year award, and in 2005 became the only company to retain the latter.
www.betfair.com
For further information, please contact:
Tony Calvin, Horseracing PR Manager
Tel: 07881 508 999
tony.calvin@betfair.com
or Georgina Hard, Press Officer
Tel: 020 8834 8224
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