Punter fails to double fortune

A 51-year-old hotel manager – who made betting history by winning £879,939 (€1.3m) from a £4 (€5.90) bet – today failed in a bid to more than double his money.

The luck which brought which Ron Nicholson, from Poole, Dorset, a small fortune ran out at Sandown Park today.

Mr Nicholson who is to be made redundant from his job in October, would have won another £983,495 (€1.5m) if Scotmail Boy had won the Betfred Gold Cup Chase feature race.

But his choice, picked an hour before the 3.35 pm off, came in down the field after a promising early on in a race won by 25-1 shot Puntal.

Odds on Scotmail Boy dropped from 14-1 to 6-1 after word spread that Mr Nicholson had backed it.

His £879,939 (€1.3m) win was the biggest individual payout since betting shops were legalised in 1961 when he picked the winners of six horse races which took place last Saturday.

His inspired picks for the Totescoop6 bet that day were:

:: A 10-1 winner called Dubai Success at Newbury in the first leg of his bet - placed at a Coral betting shop in Bournemouth he had frequented for for four years.

:: Keltic Bard came in first at Ayr to claim the prize at 9-4.

:: El Cota won at Newbury at 20-1 for the third leg of his bet.

:: Grey Abbey took the Scottish National at Ayr for the bet’s fourth leg at 12-1.

:: Then Majestic Desert won for him at Newbury for the fifth leg as the 6-4 favourite.

:: And Salford City, also at Newbury, won the sixth and final leg of the bet at odds of 10-3.

The Totescoop6 costs £2 (€3) per bet – but Mr Nicholson split his bet on the last race with his other choice being Nero’s Return which came in unplaced. This meant his stake was £4 (€5.90).

He had the chance to more than double his money in the bet’s bonus round he did not have to place a stake – at Sandown today.

After his first six horses came in Mr Nicholson said he hoped that his winnings would not change his life.

He planned to spend the money was to take his 83-year-old mother Lilian on holiday to Gibraltar.

A single man with two brothers, Mr Nicholson said: “I might buy a new house, I might buy a new car but my old one serves me well enough.”

He said he intended to continue placing bets as well as indulge in his other hobby of playing golf.

Before the Sandown off today Mr Nicholson said : “Winning the bonus would be the icing on the cake if I do get it but I am quite happy with what I have got.”

Simon Clare, spokesman for Coral, said: “Never in betting shop history has one punter won so much for such a small stake.”

Mr Nicholson said he chose his first six winners by reading the racing pages of the national newspapers.