When people talk about the bets relating to Frankie Dettori’s famous Magnificent Seven at Ascot, they all focus on a man called Darren Yates who won £550k.
However, there is another less well known punter who made a similar bet on the now famous jockey, and her name is Mary Bolton.
Mum of three, Mary, a care officer from Parbrook in Somerset, had placed an each way acca on all of Dettori’s races for no other reason than she was fond the jockey.
According to a survey, women are much more likely to make bets on the horses for seemingly meaningless reasons such as the horse’s name, jockey silks, or other some such, rather than by studying form. They tend to punt at long odds too.
Well, you can roll your eyes if you like, but Mary’s reasoning made her £500k richer by the end of the day, so there must have been be something in it.
An Anniversary Gift
The bet all came about because her cattle dealer husband, John, had given Mary £217 to bet with as a 19th wedding anniversary gift. A very precise amount – I wonder how he decided on that figure?
Whatever the reason, Mary made her selections and placed her bet, then watched some of them on the television, before switching over when there was a steward’s enquiry after one of the races.
She didn’t realise she had won until much later in the day, and didn’t find out exactly how much she had won until they got back from London, where they were visiting as part of their anniversary celebrations.
Mary told The Mirror:
“We’re still in shock. I only bet two or three times a year.”
Mary had stopped into a Ladbrokes close to her hotel to make the wager, but unbeknownst to her (always check the terms and conditions guys!) there was a £500,000 maximum win cap at the bookie. Her winning bet would have paid out over £927,000 otherwise – almost twice as much.
Like a trooper, Mary continued to fulfil her duties at work until her employer had chance to make other arrangements, but I would hazard a guess that she put her feet up as soon as she could.