Horse racing bettor’s last-minute change of heart nets them nearly £100,000 off £20 in bets

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With 18 seconds left before the start of the 8pm at Southwell on Friday, 21 March, one bettor scribbled out his original pick of 8/1 Ocean Ridge and replaced it with 6/1 Toby Tops. 

That one change, and a quick scribbling out of a duplicate selection, saw the punter take home £96,750 from a £20 Lucky 15 bet with an extra four-fold bet. 

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The result was made all the more impressive by the fact that none of the four selections were favourites and even included a 14/1 winner that beat the race favourite by a short head.

The bettor placed a £1 Lucky 15 bet across four races at the evening meet at Southwell on 21 March, costing a total of £15. They also placed an additional £5 four-way bet on the four horses, which would prove to have a significant impact on the player’s winnings.

The punter, who has not been named, bet on Dutch Kingdom in the 7pm race, as well as King of Fury in the 7.30pm, Toby Tops in the 8pm, and Sevensees in the 8.30pm.  

The accumulator looked to be dead during the first race when favourite Legal Reform was leading late on. However, the 14/1 Dutch Kingdom led a late surge and pipped the 2/1 favourite at the post, winning by a short head. 

Dutch Kingdom’s 14/1 price was the longest of the accumulator, but not a single favourite was included.

King Of Fury won the 7.30pm race at odds of 12/1 with Toby Tops coming in at 6/1 in the 8pm. Sevensees sealed the bettor’s fate, winning by a head in the 8.30pm. 

The results meant that the lucky horse racing fan’s Lucky 15 paid out a total of £21,500. But, it was the 15,000/1 four-fold that brought in the majority of the money. 

From a £5 bet, the punter took £75,075, taking their total winnings to £96,575. 

However, the result could have been very different, if but for a couple of last-minute changes.

With seconds to go, the bettor scribbled out their original selection of Ocean Ridge at the 8pm, replacing it with eventual winner Toby Tops. 

Ocean Ridge languished in 8th position, while Toby Tops emerged victorious. 

The punter also noticed that they had duplicated one of their selections which would have potentially left the entire bet null and void. 

Fortunately, after scribbling out the duplicate selection, the bettor produced their slip at four seconds past 7pm. The first race went off at 22 seconds past, which meant the bet was placed with just 18 seconds to spare.

Ladbrokes spokesperson Alex Apati said of the result: “Our plucky punter truly has put the luck in Lucky 15 here. You’ll do well to find a closer finish than Friday night’s 7pm at Southwell. 

And while there was still a long way to go in the bet at the time, that short head victory for Dutch Kingdom ended up being the over-£95,000 difference maker for our customer.”

He went on to say: “To land the Lucky 15 to the tune of £21,500 was one thing, but to back the 15,000/1 four-fold with a fiver on top – coupled with that early drama – means this has to go down as one of the best bets we’ve seen in recent years.”