A Cheltenham racecourse punter has ‘cleaned out’ the bookmakers after winning £55,000 from a £5 bet.

On a dramatic first day of the four day it was the betting industry which emerged victorious.

This was despite the heavily backed Kopek Des Bordes getting punters off to the perfect start when winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.

He was one of two odds-on favourites to strike on Tuesday, the other being Lossiemouth in the Mares’ Hurdle.

But thousands of accumulator bets went down in the second race when Majborough was beaten.

And even worse was to follow when the 1-2 favourite Constitution Hill, who was supposed to anchor the fourth leg of the acca, and would also have featured in multiples across the four days as well as in single bet, fell at the fifth flight of Champion Hurdle.

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As a result of his exit alone bookmakers were estimated to have banked and the results overall spared them a £50 million payout.

Yet there was better luck for players of the Tote Placepot with at least two five figure wins.

Players of the popular Placepot have to select a horse to finish in the first three or four places, in handicaps of 16 runners or more, in the first six races.

One punter netted a huge windfall after staking a total of £5. He picked William Munny (2nd), Jango Baie (1st), The Changing Man (2nd), Take No Chances (3rd), Burdett Road (2nd) and Hot Fuss (4th).

When the customer, called Tom, went to cash his ticket the terminal revealed he had won £55,000. The Tote post on X said: "We've been cleaned out."

A message said: “Insufficient funds to pay out. Please contact your manager.”

Tom wasn’t the only winner of the bet on the day as another punter scooped £11,000 on the bet.