When Ron Nicholson won the Scoop6 on April 17th 2004, it was the biggest win in the competition’s history, and indeed the biggest payout ever from a betting shop since they were first legalised in 1961.
51 year old Ron, of Poole, Dorset, had been a hotel manager until he was made redundant just weeks before his big win came along – safe to say he didn’t need another job after this.
After initially asking to remain anonymous, Mr Nicholson was persuaded to make his identity known, probably so that Coral could publicise the win properly, since that’s where he placed the £4.00 bet.
He attempted to win the bonus fund too, which at that point was worth a staggering £983,495 more, but despite his efforts, this win eluded him. The race was the Betfred Gold Cup at Sandown Park.
Still, the £878,939 he did win will have been more than enough for a very comfortable retirement. Remember, this win was back in 2004, so that money would be worth more than £1.5 million in today’s money.
How the Bet was Won
From Ayr Racecourse, Home of Scottish Grand National
Given that race number one had a 17 strong field, it wasn’t the easiest start to the Scoop6, but Ron’s pick, Dubai Success, proved to be prophetically named, coming in at 10/1.
Keltic Bard was Ron’s next winner, although a blunder at the 10th must have been a worrying moment, before the horse made up ground and ended up leading from 2 out onwards.
With race number 3 having 27 runners to choose from, calling it a tough one to predict is an understatement. Nevertheless, Mr Nicholson chose well when he picked El Coto, a little fancied 20/1 shot that finished 17th in its last outing.
The Scottish Grand National was selected for race four, so as you might expect, it was a huge field. There were 28 horses competing, but only 9 of them managed to finish the race, and at the front, was Grey Abbey.
Ron actually went for the favourite in race 5, and a good job too, because the 6/4 priced Majestic Desert performed as expected, more or less dominating the race.
When it came to race six, things looked relatively simple with only 10 runners, and the 100/30 odds Salford City did the business to win the Scoop6 for Mr Nicholson and make him a very rich man indeed.