A LUCKY punter backed a 9/1 outsider at Cheltenham which ended up winning the race – all thanks to a lucky match on a dating app.
Dylan Chapman was putting on his bets for the day on Wednesday at one of the country’s biggest dates in the horse racing calendar.
The 21-year-old had selected several horses for various races throughout the day but couldn’t decide on who he fancied for the 2.50 meeting.
Earlier in the day, Dylan from Worcestershire had matched with a young woman named Olivia Elliot on dating app Hinge and so decided to break the ice with an unusual opener.
Electrical engineer Dylan asked Olivia to pick a number between 1-26 – to which she replied 14, leaving Dylan to stick a fiver on horse number 14, Langer Dan, at odds of 9/1.
An image shows a conversation between the pair on Hinge with Dylan’s opening line simply reading: “Pick a number between 1-26.”
Olivia replies: “Urmm 14.”
Dylan then responds with: “I’ve put a bet on no. 14 to win at the horse races today. Lets hope you’re a lucky charm.”
Incredibly, the Dan Skelton trained horse came through, winning the Coral Cup Hurdle and netting Dylan a £50 return.
A second image confirms Dylan’s winnings – showing bookmakers Paddy Power’s app and a graphic entitled ‘Giddy Up! You have won £50.00’.
Dylan shared the anecdote to social media on Wednesday, writing: “A true love story.”
His post received over 9,000 likes and more than 160 retweets, with dozens of users flocking to the comment section, including Olivia herself.
She joked: “We’re now married with two kids, a third on the way and two little dogs.”
Another simply commented: “Lenger Dan.”
A third replied: “Take her out with the 50 euro you won, only fair.”
Another added: “Haha love this.”
Speaking today, Dylan said: “I matched with Liv earlier in the day and in the 2.50 race yesterday there were no obvious favourites and I needed a way to pick a horse.
“So no better way than opening a conversation in a different way and standing out – then it was an even better result when it won.
“All the lads were buzzing to be fair and she even replied with a bit of banter too.”
The biggest race of the Cheltenham Festival takes place tomorrow with the running of the Gold Cup.
