Woman yet to claim £394,487 winnings after making a £2 horse racing bet

A UK bookmakers are trying to locate a woman in her twenties who has won a £394,487 prize but has yet to realise what she has won.

The young woman made a £2 Scoop6 bet on six televised races on Channel 4 and the BBC last weekend at a BetFred shop in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. She made the bet just after noon last Saturday and has yet to come forward to collect her prize. 

According to The Guardian, this is the first time in the pool bet’s 13 year history that a winner has failed to come forward to collect a major prize. The bookmaker suspects that the woman may have been misled because only four of her original selections came first. However, as her two other selections were non-runners, under the rules of the Scoop6 bet they automatically transfer to the favourite in each race and the leading market fancy landed both races.

So therefore all six of her bets won. They were: Sea Moon 3-1, Punita 5-2, Reem Star 11-2, Dandy Boy 33-1, Angels Will Fall at 7-2 and Trojan Rocket at 3-1. 

The woman – who may work in a shop or office in the city – has a deadline to meet to register for a free pick in the bonus race on Saturday at her local track in Newcastle: the John Smith's Northumberland Plate – known as the Pitmen's Derby, which could add the bonus fund of £251,966 to her existing winnings.

The staff at the BetFred shop in Adelaide Terrace, Benwell, have a little added incentive to find their winner, as they will be in line for a £5,000 bonus themselves, if she comes in and picks the winner of the Plate. However, she needs to register with BetFred before a cut off point ahead of the big race. 

The miserable weather proved to be the woman's friend. Due to the torrential rain last Saturday, a total of 18 horses were withdrawn from the six Scoop6 races. In the last one, the Wokingham Handicap from Royal Ascot, the Newcastle punter was the only player with a ticket on the eventual winner Dandy Boy at 33-1, despite 586 ticket holders having chances in the race.

Browse our horses for sale or place an ad  on Horsemart now.

Picture: Paolo Camera