Racing: Cruel fate for Scoop6 pensioner

The pensioner who was agonisingly denied a near £1m jackpot on the Tote Scoop6 at the end of last month, died on Tuesday night at the age of 75.

The pensioner who was agonisingly denied a near £1m jackpot on the Tote Scoop6 at the end of last month, died on Tuesday night at the age of 75.

Jack Lee was due to be presented with £15,000 as a gesture of goodwill from last weekend's Scoop6 winner, Stuart Bolland, at a press conference arranged by the bookmakers Betfred in Manchester yesterday.

After finding all six winners in the Scoop6 on 30 October, Lee missed out on the £857,714 winnings for just a £2 stake when one of his selections, the Mark Tompkins-trained Babodana, was subsequently disqualified from first place in the Ben Marshall Stakes at Newmarket.

Bolland became Britain's first punter to become a millionaire from a betting-shop wager when winning the Scoop6 the week after Lee had so unfortunately missed out. The pool he picked up of £1,132,657 was of record proportions only because Lee's bet had not succeeded the previous week and he had generously decided to share his good fortune.