A snooker fan has won a huge £10,000 following the first World Championship victory of Judd Trump, after placing a bet on the Bristol-born star when he was just eight years old.
Neil Morrice, 62, witnessed the player back in 1998, after seeing him in action at Keynsham Snooker Club, near Bristol.
After the encounter, Morrice called Coral bookmakers who took his £10 bet at odds of 1000-1 for Trump to win the World Championships before the age of 30.
Following 29-year-old Trump's 18-9 win over John Higgins on May 6, he has finally collected a payoff for this amazing prediction.
Mr Morrice, whose is an expert horse racing analyst, lives in the small village of Wantage, in Oxfordshire. Originally from Yorkshire, he has worked for the Racing Post for years, and is no stranger to the odd bet from time to time.
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He spoke exclusively to Bristol Live on May 7, as he waited outside a Coral betting shop to collect his winnings.
Mr Morrice narrowly missed out on his windfall when Trump was beaten by John Higgins at the Crucible in 2011. But Monday night's impressive 'An unstoppable machine' - Bristol's Judd Trump becomes world champion and snooker's first £1million man has made Neil Morrice £10,000 richer.
But it was all or nothing for Mr Morrice, as Trump turns 30 on August 20 this year, so his bet would have been null and void should he have won at a later date.
Mr Morrice watched the match at home on TV and told Bristol Live: “I am so pleased for him, and have watched his career unfold. To win this is brilliant.
“I have been in the business all my life, and I don’t know anyone that has had a straight win on the nose like this at 1000-1. I don’t know if it will happen again.
“For me now at 62, it feels like the icing on the cake at my age after a lifetime of betting and tipping,” he added.
'This little lad came up to us and said if he fancied having a frame'
Mr Morrice told Bristol Live how the chance encounter unfolded, saying: “I took my 12-year-old son Richard, who was a decent club player, on the circuit most weekends. On this one we ventured a bit further afield. So we went to Keynsham snooker club, near Bristol, for a competition.
“This little lad came up to us and said if he fancied having a frame, he was about eight. He actually said he would give Richard a 20-point start, which made me chuckle.”
At first Trump struggled to get to the table. Mr Morrice recalls how he had an unorthodox method, and stood on an assisting box.
He said: “He potted a long red, and then started off with a 40 odd break, and I thought 'bloody hell'.
"He then missed a shot, Richard played a couple, and then Trump came back and basically finished up. It was all over in two visits to the table.”
The second frame went equally as bad for Richard. Mr Morrice said: “He literally annihilated him in both frames. Straight away I thought I need to do something about this."
Mr Morrice immediately rang his friend Simon Clare who worked for Coral Bookmakers. He offered him odds at 1000-1, if Trump was World Champion by the age of 30.
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Mr Morrice has followed Trump’s career avidly ever since and has had some close calls including two semi-final defeats, and the final loss against Higgins in 2011. This time it looked like it was all over, after Trump almost exited in the first round to Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but came back from behind to win 10-9.
“It looked like it was never going to happen at one point. But as this tournament went on he just got stronger. Particularly after the quarter-final against Ding, and from that moment I had a sneaky feeling he was going to do it.
“Then come the final, some of his snooker was astonishing, particularly in the second session, and it was at that point I thought he is definitely going to become the champion.”
Mr Morrice's winnings have not been collected yet, and Mr Morrice isn’t sure what he will spend the money on, although his great friend, the former England footballer and race horse owner Mick Channon would be delighted if he bought another horse with him.
Mr Morrice said: “Yes I own a couple through a syndicate with him, and may well do that. Who knows. Horse racing is my passion so it will probably be related to that somehow.”
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Some will say Mr Morrice was lucky, but this isn’t the first time that he has had success.
He once won £20,000 for a £10 each way accumulator on a five-horse win in 1994; he had the 100-1 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Norton’s Coin in 1992, and backed him at 200-1 before the odds plummeted; and he gained a reputation amongst media circles for an unprecedented tip of first, second, and third as a pundit for the Press Association in the 1981 Grand National.
But one of his most shrewd spots, and very similar to the Trump one, was having a small bet on a young teenage lad to go on to become a champion jockey. Once again he had the foresight, as he would go on to be the most coveted national jump jockey of his era. It was Richard Dunwoody.
However, Mr Morrice has never won a bet with the odds at a 1000-1, and on someone so young.
He said: “I have been in the business all my life, and I don’t know anyone that has had a straight win on the nose like this at 1000-1, and I don’t know if it will happen again.”
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As for his son, Richard, who in his own father’s words was ‘annihilated’ back at Keynsham Snooker club, he is now 33 and still plays the odd game. Currently living in London as an insurance Broker in the City, his dad describes him as ‘still quite handy player.’
Mr Morrice said he will always keep an eye out for young talent wherever he is, but has no plans to lay down a bet like this anytime soon.
But he will always remember that day he made a phone call in Keynsham back in 1998.
