Cheshire punter strikes it rich as £4.52 bet lands quarter of a million

A single mother from Cheshire in her 30s is planning to buy a house with her winnings from day one of Glorious Goodwood after bagging nearly a quarter of a million pounds from a £4.52 stake.

On a day when winners returned at 100-1, 50-1, 33-1 and 20-1 bookmakers very much had the best of it, but William Hill were left to sweat on a maximum £1 million payout going into the final race, when their small-staking punter had Darkroom Angel as the last part of her ace accumalator, which included a 1p each-way fivefold.

Despite leading a furlong out Darkroom Angel could not deliver –victory would have sent the punter's winnings into the many millions but Hills, like most firms, cap payouts at £1m – yet £246,238.73 was the return. Not a bad day's work.

THE BET IN FULL

10p each-way doubles
10p each-way trebles
5p each-way fourfold
1p each-way fivefold
Stake £4.52

1.50 Goodwood Dark Red price taken 12-1 WON (first past the post)
3.00 Goodwood Breton Rock price taken 50-1 WON
4.10 Goodwood Thechildren'strust 100-1* WON
4.45 Goodwood El Astronaute price taken 33-1 WON
5.15 Goodwood Darkroom Angel price taken 16-1 10th

Winnings £246,238.73

*80-1 when placed but best odds guarantee applied

The punter benefited from a best odds guarantee boost with 100-1 winner Thechildren'strust, and also from the firm's first-past-the-post policy as opening-race selection Dark Red was disqualified after a stewards' inquiry.

"Some of our racing traders have been in the game for 40 years and none of them can remember such an astonishing bet that so nearly cost us a million," said Hills' Rupert Adams.

Expert Eye, in the Vintage Stakes, was the only winning favourite on the card, with Dark Red's race awarded to 20-1 chance Fabricate, Big Orange being turned over by 6-1 shot Stradivarius, and the final race falling to 15-2 chance Shenanigans.

If you were interested in this, you may also like:

Punter wins big at Goodwood to bag £163,000 in 50p Lucky 31

Quids in! Bonus-race winner takes punter past £500,000 mark

Punter turns £19 into £823,000 with Punchestown accumulators

Scoop6 pot landed in sensational style by £2 punter