A construction site manager is celebrating a windfall after he followed a horse racing tip that had been sealed in a time capsule for 62 years – a note that urged the finder to back a horse with a Christmassy name.
Josh Smalls, site manager on the restoration project at Crystal Palace Park in south London, placed a £20 bet on a horse called Christmas Day after a colleague unearthed the capsule beneath the giant bust of Sir Joseph Paxton, the Victorian designer of the Crystal Palace. The horse romped home at 7-1 odds in Saturday’s Derby at Epsom, giving Smalls a payout of £140.
“A construction worker won a bet on the Epsom Derby after following a 62-year-old tip from a time capsule in Crystal Palace Park.”
The time capsule was discovered on 15 April by Craciun Marius Dorin, a member of the renovation team. Inside were four old coins and a handwritten note dated 1964. The note explained that the coins were winnings from a bet on a horse named Santa Claus in the 1964 Derby, and urged any future finder to use the money to bet on a horse “that can in some way be associated with ‘Santa Claus’”.
Smalls, who moved to London from County Armagh two years ago and whose uncle is a horse trainer, said he grew up with racing. “I looked through the rosters of the last few years and couldn’t find any other horse with a Christmassy name,” he told the BBC before the race. “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.”
Dorin, who is Romanian, noted an eerie coincidence: “I’m Romanian and Craciun in Romanian actually means Christmas – isn’t that crazy?”
Christmas Day, trained by Aidan O’Brien and jockeyed by Ronan Whelan, pulled away in the final stages of the race and stormed home to win, never looking in danger after entering the straight. The victory gave O’Brien his 12th win in Britain’s premier Classic.
Bromley Mayor Christine Harris also placed a £15 bet on Christmas Day, pledging any winnings to two local charities: Madlani Cancer Support and the Dyslexia Association of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
After the race, the Crystal Palace Park Trust wrote on social media: “What just happened? The park’s time capsule prophecy came true.”