Cheltenham Festival accas foiled as Black Tears saves bookies from huge payout

Bookmakers were saved a huge payout as day one Cheltenham Festival accumulators were foiled by 11-1 shot Black Tears.

The Denise Foster-trained runner collared favourite Concertista on the run to the line in the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle.

The runner-up had been sent off the 10-11f, to follow the successes of market leaders Appreciate It, Shishkin and Honeysuckle.

Many punters had the four favourites in accumulators, at cumulative odds of around 12-1.

Foster took over the training of Black Tears and Gordon Elliott's horses last week.

She is running the Cullentra operation in Ireland while Elliott serves a year-long ban.

Winning jockey Jack Kennedy said: "Black Tears jumped and travelled brilliant throughout the race.

"The line was coming and she was just starting to get up, I was praying that it wouldn't come too soon – and it didn't thank God."

He added: "The amount of effort that everyone puts in at home, it's days like these that make it all worthwhile.

"We have gone through a bit of a tough time alright, but we have kept going and showed that today."

Betfair spokesman Barry Orr said the bookmakers were facing a "substantial" payout until the late surge of Black Tears.

"Black Tears saved the layers crying and turned what could have been a stinker into a multiple sinker," he said.

"The four-timer was coming in at morning prices of around 12/1 so she saved the industry a substantial sum of money."

There was a huge shock in the sixth race of the day, the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, as Jeff Kidder scored at odds of 80-1.