A construction site manager is celebrating a major payout after heeding advice from a 60-year-old time capsule note to bet on a horse with a Christmassy name in the Epsom Derby.
Josh Smalls, site manager for the restoration project at Crystal Palace Park in south London, discovered the note and four old coins under a giant bust of Sir Joseph Paxton, the Victorian designer of the Crystal Palace. The note, written by P. Wright Paterson in 1964, explained that the coins were winnings from a bet on Santa Claus in that year's Derby and urged the finder to use them to bet on a horse whose name could be associated with Santa Claus.
Smalls told the BBC: "Unbelievably, there is a horse in this year's Derby called Christmas Day. To find a piece of history like that – and for it to link up so well with the horse this year – it was kind of spooky. I looked through the rosters of the last few years and couldn't find any other horse with a Christmassy name."
He and the mayor of Bromley, Christine Harris, placed bets on the horse, which won at 7-1 odds. The horse, trained by Aidan O'Brien, led from the straight and held off a late challenge from Maltese Cross to secure O'Brien's 12th win in Britain's premier Classic.
Smalls placed a £20 bet, saying "hopefully he'll make everyone a bit of money." Mayor Harris placed a £15 bet, pledging winnings to Madlani Cancer Support and the Dyslexia Association of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
The time capsule was first discovered in April by Smalls' colleague Craciun Marius Dorin, a member of the park's regeneration team. Dorin noted that his name means "Christmas" in Romanian. The note and coins will be displayed at the Crystal Palace Museum.
