Leading bookmaker reacts after losing £800,000 on one bet at Grand National

An on-course bookmaker who will payout £800,000 to a punter who placed a successful six-figure bet at the Grand National has admitted to feeling "numb" after the result.

In the build-up to Saturday's 4pm race at Aintree, an unknown racegoer placed a whopping £100,000 bet on I Am Maximus to win the world's most famous steeplechase at odds of 8/1.

ITV presenter Brian Gleeson was on hand to show viewers the betting slip, which was also handled by popular pundit Johnny Dineen, who was fronting the Fitzwilliam pitch that took the bet.

Dineen claimed it was "the biggest bet we've ever laid by a mile", while Gleeson was taken aback. "Oh my god," the presenter said. "One hundred thousand at 8/1. That's what you call a proper bet."

A couple of hours later, I Am Maximus became the first horse to carry top weight to victory since triple winner Red Rum in the 1970's.

The 10-year-old bay gelding also became the sixth horse in history to become a two-time Grand National winner.

It was all smiles for those who backed I Am Maximus, but it was an afternoon to forget for Fitzwilliam bookmakers and Michael Gannon, who reacted to the race result in an interview with the Echo.

As well as saying he was "numb" after being hit by the £800,000 payout, Gannon said: “We laid a bet earlier in the day, a big bet, and we traded over for a good few quid. We thought we was safe in the position we had taken, but it was a real bad result for us.”

Gannon added: “He said he will have to work around it so we don’t go into liquidation, and that is what we did. We bailed over for a good few quid, we still had a bad race.

"The person who had a bet is a happy person this evening. He won’t be collecting here, but he will be getting looked after Monday morning.”

Gannon also confirmed that the bookmakers have no plans to ban the punter from placing bets with his company in future.

"No, no, no. We have a relationship with the person who had the bet and we play a big boys game and we will keep kicking," he said.

“We keep looking forward. No future in the past. A bad race and a bad day, but it was a great meeting. A great atmosphere here and there was great business. Great people and a great spread of bets. A lot of money and a great spread of bets."

“It was all positive except for the National," added Gannon. "The hardest race of the meeting was our worst race. So that is what you get for being cheeky, but here we are.”