Builder wins bet on Epsom Derby thanks to 'spooky' time capsule tip

Crystal Palace Park Trust

A construction worker has won big after he followed a 62-year-old horse racing tip found in a time capsule hidden in a south London park.

The capsule, which included four old coins and a handwritten note, was discovered underneath a statue during renovation work in Crystal Palace Park.

The “spooky” note, dated to 1964, said the coins were winnings from a horse called Santa Claus that ran that year. It urged the finder to back a horse with an associated name.

Site manager Josh Smalls followed the anonymous tipster’s advice and put £20 on a horse named Christmas Day, which romped home to victory at 7-1 odds on Saturday.

Smalls, who moved to London from County Armagh in Northern Ireland two years ago, said he grew up with horse racing and that his uncle was a horse trainer.

“It was very exciting. I was like a child on 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,” he told the BBC before this year’s Derby took place.

“I looked through the rosters of the last few years and couldn’t find any other horse with a Christmassy name.”

Crystal Palace Park Trust

After Christmas Day – trained by Aidan O’Brien and jockeyed by Ronan Whelan – pulled away in the final stages of the race before storming home to win, the Crystal Palace Park Trust wrote on social media: “What just happened?

“The park’s time capsule prophecy came true.”

The prescient note was unearthed on 15 April by contractor Craciun Marius Dorin as workers moved the bust of Sir Joseph Paxton, a Victorian designer who helped create Crystal Place for the Great Exhibition of London in 1851.

“I’m Romanian and Craciun in Romanian actually means Christmas – isn’t that crazy?” he said.

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Dorin immediately handed the discovery to Smalls, who said: “It was very exciting. I was like a child on 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.”

Bromley Mayor Christine Harris also placed a £15 bet on Christmas Day and said that the potential winnings would go to local charities.

Builder finds ‘spooky’ 1964 time capsule

Christmas Day surges to Epsom Derby win for O’Brien