Peter Crouch lost £7.8k after being forced into Guinness Cheltenham bet

Peter Crouch will be hoping to keep a few more quid in his pocket at Cheltenham this year.

That’s because last year he made an unusual wager that cost him £7,800 – the price of 1,000 pints of Guinness.

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The former England striker was in attendance for Thursday’s action at Cheltenham in 2025 and joined ITV Racing’s coverage on the course.

Attention quickly turned to an eye-watering bet he had made with bookmaker Paddy Power.

The bookmaker explained: “We were going to have a bet for a pint of Guinness but I thought to make things interesting, especially because he was going to take the British runners, I’m taking the Irish runners.

“Rather than a pint of Guinness, how about a pint of Guinness for everyone in the Guinness Village.

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“Basically, myself or Crouchy will be buying 1,000 pints of Guinness after the Stayer’s Hurdle.

“If an Irish horse wins, Crouchy’s buying the pints, if an English horse wins, I’m buying the pints. I think I got the better of this one.”

Crouchy then admitted: “That’s outrageous really, isn’t it? Also, I don’t know loads about horse racing. I woke up, I had a look at it and I was like, ‘we ain’t got any chance’ and now he’s (Power) upped it.”

The Stayers’ Hurdle, which was sponsored by Paddy Power, was the fifth race of the day.

Unfortunately for Crouch, the Grade 1 race was won by the Henry De Bromhead-trained Bob Olinger.

Under Rachael Blackmore, the Irish horse edged out Teahupoo, the odds-on favourite, after excellently timing a push for the front.

ITV Racing

ITV Racing

The best finish for a British-trained horse came in seventh with Lucky Place ridden by Nico de Boinville and trained by Nicky Henderson.

As a result of losing the bet, Crouch had to pay for 1,000 pints in the Guinness Village at the Cheltenham Festival.

With a single pint costing £7.80 at the Festival, his total outlay came to an eye-watering £7,800.

Risque joke

The former striker was also asked by presenter Oli Bell if he’s ever ridden a horse.

Crouch responded: “Yes, I’ve been on a few horses…”

Then referencing his wife Abbey Clancy, he added: “Abbey likes to ride.”

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Crouch quickly added: “Horses.”

Bell couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Crouch tried to continue, before succumbing to laughter himself.

Bell finally added: “Okay, well we’ll leave it at that.”

Cheltenham tradition

Crouch also revealed it was far from his first time attending the event.

He explained: “This is kind of like a footballer thing, a tradition. I played under Harry Redknapp countless times, obviously he introduced me to it and I’ve been coming back ever since.”

Asked if he used to attend during his playing days, Crouch added: “Yeah, we came. There was a couple of incidents, I remember Harry Redknapp saying to Jonathan Woodgate we couldn’t come.

“And then he found out Jonathan had organised a helicopter. So very quickly that changed and Harry was sitting in the front.

“We had some great days and I’ll always remember coming here and it always being a really great day. I’ve always tried to come back since I’ve retired.”

After scoring 106 goals in 468 Premier League appearances, Crouch retired aged 39 in the summer of 2019.

Cheltenham 2026

Day One saw Lossiemouth be the star of the show by winning the Champion Hurdle.

There were some famous faces in the crowd with 2024 World Darts Champion Luke Humphries winning a huge bet – with the winnings going to charity.

talkSPORT’s Charlie Baker ran into Gary Pallister in The Green Room at Cheltenham, who was very happy to be winning some money after the first few races!

He said: “I’m buzzing, Saratoga’s just come in. Dion Dublin gave me the tip. I trusted him for once, and I’m a few quid up now!”

Baker joked: “You’ll be buying a house off him now!”

Pallister quickly replied: “Not with his judgement, no! But no great day. I look forward to this every year. I missed last year so I’m making up for it this year!”

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