Homeless man scoops monster NZ$100,000 from $5 bet on Melbourne Cup - and now set to buy a house

A homeless man in New Zealand won NZ$106,000 (£51,250/€55,509) from a $5 bet by correctly predicting the order of the first four horses home in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

The man, who only wished to be referred to as Robert, told the NZ Herald his winnings would go towards a deposit for a house, having lived in a garage for nine months.

He placed the bet while with a group of friends in a working men's club in Petone, Wellington, and discovered he had landed the bet when smoking a cigarette in the garden bar.

He celebrated the life-changing win with drinks and he received some celebratory flowers from the club.

Tuesday's Melbourne Cup was won by 7-1 chance Without A Fight but he correctly chose 150-1 third-place finisher Sheraz as well as 17-2 runner-up Soulcombe and 25-1 fourth Ashrun.

"It was quite, quite an emotional process, mate," the man told the NZ Herald. "I couldn't believe it, and I thought to myself, there must be something wrong here.

"So, I went into my easybets and realised that there was a green tick next to my $5 first four easybets with $106,000.

"I've gone from being homeless, sitting in a garage to finally being able to afford a deposit on a house now."

TAB, New Zealand's largest pool betting firm, confirmed the bet had been placed on a day it recorded record turnover on racing with NZ$28.4 million staked.

In Australia, a punter scooped AU$100,000 from a $2 stake on a first four mystery bet, with the forecast selected at random.

Without A Fight's victory sealed AU$900,000 for another punter who staked $100,000 on the winner.

The Willie Mullins-trained Vauban was sent off favourite for the race but finished 14th with stablemate Absurde the best of the international challengers in seventh.

Read more on the Melbourne Cup:

'I got a bit of flak' - Mark Zahra justified as Without A Fight wins Melbourne Cup with Vauban well beaten 

How England's Cricket World Cup misery helped Michael Vaughan cash in at the Melbourne Cup 

Willie Mullins: Vauban ran very disappointingly - he was beaten too far out for my liking 

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