I WATCHED Annie Power’s race from our pitch on the rails and the atmosphere was unbelievable. When she fell the whole stand went silent, you were left thinking ‘This hasn’t happened – she was sure to win’.

The result saved Ladbrokes £15 million, so you can imagine what it meant to the industry overall. The Ruby-Willie accumulator was 16/1 in the morning and I know lots of people who backed it – I couldn’t put them off. In one way it was disappointing for racing that the four-timer did not come off – it would have been spectacular.

Before the shock in the mares’ race, punters had been in great form. There was plenty of money around, it was like the old days. On the rails it was non-stop from the minute we opened up.

Douvan was really well-backed. They piled into him at 5/2 and 9/4, and 2/1 was the very best you could get at the off. We saw one bet of 20 grand to win 40, and there were lots of one, two and three grand bets.

They were playing with our money from then on. Some of us tried to ‘get’ Un De Sceaux and he was a good price at 8/11.

The handicap chase was a busy race too. The winner, The Druids Nephew, was very well-backed and there was plenty of each-way support for Ned Stark and Pendra. It was a losing race for us, especially the places.

Faugheen was another bad result. Plenty of bookies took him on, feeling the horse had a bit to prove. We had to go around backing him ourselves at the off, just to limit the damage. We had to do the same with Annie Power – the off-course liabilities were seriously mounting up.

Glens Melody was actually well-backed too by the shrewdies – she was a cast-iron each-way bet at 6/1. Getting ‘Annie’ beat was a relief but it was not a skinner by any means.

Cause Of Causes was another well-backed winner and Irish Cavalier, in the last, didn’t go unbacked either.

It was a losing day for us but it could have been a lot worse and there is plenty of time to win it back. On Wednesday, we needed to get Sprinter Sacre beaten as we have been biggest price about him for a while.