Staggering losses prove this has been the worst Cheltenham for bookmakers in a very, very long time

The 2016 Cheltenham Festival has been a victory for the punters.

At the start of Gold Cup day, bookmakers in the UK and Ireland were reportedly down £50 million (€64.3m) following wins for a number of heavily backed horses on day three of the festival.

Wins for Thistlecrack, Vautour, and Limini on Thursday reportedly cost Irish bookmakers alone over €12 million.

If bookies were hoping for some respite on the final day of the festival they were certainly left cursing their luck as the festival came to a close.

Ivanovich Gorbatov, the 9/2 favourite, won the JCB Triumph Hurdle, On The Fringe, priced at 13/8, won the Foxhunter Chase, and fellow favourite Don Cossack won the Gold Cup.

Victory for the 2/1 favourite in the biggest race of the week reportedly brought the combined losses between the Irish and UK bookmakers to £60million.