Brighton owner Tony Bloom pockets £1.2m after placing one of biggest bets EVER at Cheltenham

TONY BLOOM left Cheltenham with £1.2MILLION in his back pocket after winning one of the biggest bets EVER on his horse.

Brighton owner Bloom put £400,000 on Energumene defending his Champion Chase crown.

That bet returned £580,000 profit, which, added to his original stake and the £220,000 he got for owning the winning horse, all added up to £1,205,080.

Arguably even better for Bloom was that Energumene, who runs in Brighton's colours, beat Editeur Du Gite, a horse owned by Brighton fans.

Brighton play Palace in the Premier League tonight so Bloom will be looking to do the double.

Quizzed about his monster bet after the race, Bloom said: "I had a few quid on. I think we're quids in."

Pressed on just how much he placed, Bloom smiled: "Well… a few quid!"

He continued: "Energumene looked the top horse all the way round.

"The rain helped the last few days and certainly the last couple hours."

"I'm going to the game tonight.

"It's a huge rivalry, we're in good form - hopefully we don't get any VAR decisions against us tonight."

And this is the second straight year he has left Cheltenham with his substantial wallet bulging.

Bloom celebrated a £750,000 winner last year when Energumene won the Grade 1 Champion Chase over two miles for the first time.

He put £150,000 on his horse winning at odds of 5-2 - and after Shishkin flopped his horse cantered home in style.

Bloom picked up the Champion Chase trophy from Queen Consort Camilla.

She and The King were due to run Steal A March in Thursday's Pertemps final but Nicky Henderson pulled the horse out after he returned from training lame.

Winning trainer Willie Mullins said of his 6-5 fav: "Paul had a very positive frame of mind going out.

"He said he was going to jump off up there. He thought everyone was going to be very tight and he wanted to be away fast and that is the way the race worked out.

"He had it right and the horse loved the ground and jumping. He was just brilliant on the day and Paul was just brilliant on him.

"I was way more confident coming into this year’s race as we hadn’t got Shishkin to take on and we thought if there was any improvement from the Clarence House that with hopefully with a clear round he would win.

"I’ll be praying for this sort of weather this time next year. The whole game plan will be to work back from this next year."

Remember to gamble responsibly

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chases their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed