Cheltenham: Sun Bets punter cashes out free bet for £9,000… seconds before final horse fell
SUN BETS SPECIAL OFFER: BET £10 GET A FREE £30 BET
Festival fanatic could not believe his luck as he quickly pulled over while driving to cash out on what will pay for a holiday of a lifetime
A SUN BETS punter will treat his family to the holiday of a lifetime after cashing out a free bet for £9,000 just seconds before his horse fell at Cheltenham.
Nick Ward, 52, who works in the school of medicine at the University of Leeds, picked the first six winners in the Sun Bets Seven predictor game on day one of The Festival on Tuesday.
FREE £30 CHELTENHAM BET Check out this new sign up offer from Sun Bets
The self-confessed Cheltenham nut backed Le Rocher in the 5.30 Novices Handicap Chase, and was told of his huge cash out opportunity driving home to Holmfirth in West Yorkshire yesterday.
The married father-of-two said: “I was only about 15 minutes from home and the phone rang. A woman called Trish said she was calling from Sun Bets and that I might like to pull over.
“I could tell straight away from her tone of voice that it sounded positive,” he added.
“She told me that the cash-out was about £18,000. It was like another dimension, it was incredible. I was really caught up in the moment; it was almost like an out-of-body experience.
“I believe it must be fate. What if Trish couldn’t get through or if I didn’t pick up the phone? I would have been gutted because the horse I backed in the last race of the day fell quite early.”
“Only last week my wife Lisa and I had just booked to go to America with our two sons, who are 17 and 15. We’re going to Chicago, Vegas, New York and Washington. The winnings pay for the trip as well as a bit of spending money.”
How to claim your FREE £30 horse racing bet
2 Bet £10 or more on horse racing
3 Sun Bets will stick a £30 bet in your account
Nick decided to split his cash out and keep £9,000 riding on the final race.
But the frantic moments between getting the call from Sun Bets and trying to find somewhere with an internet connection to make the cash out, were very hectic, Nick added.
“I stopped at a pub at the next junction and said to the barman: ‘I need the Wi-Fi password; I’ll buy a drink in a minute’. I needed to cash out before the race started.
“Knowing I’d scooped almost £10,000… That pint of Peroni was the sweetest tasting beer I think I’ve ever had.
“The irony is that I had recorded the whole day’s racing at home. I was going home to watch it. If Trish hadn’t have rang I’d have probably watched and thought, wow, I was really close to the £500,000. It was meant to be.”
Nick, who says he only typically bets at the weekends, also explained how he adores the festival but has never been in person.
He also revealed that he only spent a few minutes picking his horses on the morning of the race.
“I liked Summerville Boy, Coo Star Sivola and Rathvinden,” he said.
“The others were just fancied horses really. So I had a rough idea. I just spent a minute picking them, closed my computer and didn’t think anything else of it before I went to lunch with colleagues.
“I only really bet on a Saturday and at the big race meetings. But I’m a big fan of Cheltenham, I absolutely love it. That roar, you can’t beat it. The jumps, the history, it’s so exhilarating.
“It’s on another level, it’s like another dimension. The whole national hunt season builds to it.
“But I’m absolutely thrilled with the win; it will be a day I’ll never forget.”
