By Frank Keogh BBC Sport at Cheltenham

One unlucky punter now has a �15,000 headache after Irish challenger Kicking King's victory in Friday's Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Earlier this month, the retired businessman clearly believed it was a massive odds-on certainty that Irish challenger Kicking King would not line up for the showpiece race.

And there were others who felt the same after trainer Tom Taaffe stated the horse would not be running because of illness.

Kicking King and Barry Geraghty won the Gold Cup

So the punter, a former IT director, decided he could make an easy �15 by matching that amount to other gamblers' requests for odds of 1,000-1 on the computer betting exchange Betfair.

This meant he had a �15,000 liability should - by some miracle - Kicking King recover and go on to run in the race, and win.

Then a week later, Taaffe revealed his King George VI Chase winner had made a remarkable recovery and would line up after all.

And the local priest Father Sean Breen went to the trainer's Kildare stable on Saturday and blessed the horse, reporting him to be in good order.

Read more: Father Breen's special Cheltenham service

When the starting tapes went up for the contest, the final feature race of an extended four-day Festival, Kicking King went off as the 4-1 favourite and went on to claim a five-length victory.

In total, �47 was bet on the horse at those four-figure odds, so a handful of other people have also been left with big liabilities.

Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin said: "This gentleman is a well-known big player on our betting exchange.

"He is happy to take a strong opinion against events he thinks aren't going to happen.

"Of course, it is fraught with danger and he has been given a big dose of reality.

The Gold Cup has been a disaster for punters William Hill spokesman David Hood

"I spoke to one of his friends, and he said he must be the unluckiest punter in the world.

"But he's taken it quite phlegmatically and is making a joke about it."

He could have recovered some of his potential losses by backing Kicking King to win at the current much shorter price, but he decided to let the bet ride.

The same man, who is aged in his mid-50s and lives in the Surrey stockbroker belt, was happy to back Chelsea at odds of 1-25 to beat West Brom in the Premiership on Tuesday night.

For every �100 he staked, he made �4 profit. If Chelsea, who ended up 1-0 winners, had not obliged he would have been forced to pay out �2,500 for every �1 staked.

Best Mate's owner praises King

There is a flip side to the Kicking King coin, as there are some punters who landed very shrewd bets.

One individual punter had �25 on Kicking King at 1000-1, so at one stage stood to win �25,000.

But he hedged his bet by backing against the horse, or "laying off", �1,000 at 20-1, meaning he went into the Gold Cup assured of winning �5,000 if the horse won and �1,000 if it didn't.

"For every loser, there's a winner. Half the people are celebrating, and half the people lose their money," said Calvin.

But this does all raise the question of whether it all sounds above board. Is there not the danger of insider dealing?

Injury put an end to Best Mate's bid for a fourth straight Gold Cup

Calvin replied: "We have a memorandum of understanding with the Jockey Club, and all our customers know that, and have to provide certain details when they join.

"The Jockey Club can request information about these horses and lists of names, and we give them the information. The audit trails are highly sophisticated."

It is exactly those kind of audit trails, although there is no suggestion any Festival race is under scrutiny, which City of London police are examining in their ongoing inquiry into allegations of race fixing.

With more than �6m traded with Betfair alone on one Thursday race, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle, there are plenty of good and bad luck stories emerging from Cheltenham.

Ante-post backers with the traditional High Street bookmakers were hit by the withdrawals of several horses with big chances.

In the Gold Cup, triple winner Best Mate was forced out after bursting a blood vessel on the gallops last week.

Five days later, new joint-favourite Kingsliff was announced an absentee after working badly.

And then another intended Gold Cup runner Farmer Jack, who had only recently been supplemented to the race at a cost of �17,500, died of a heart attack in training on Wednesday.

Under ante-post betting rules, stakes are lost if a horse does not run, although many bookies operate a non-runner, no bet rule in the days around the Festival.