A punter who became a millionaire just before Cheltenham in 2021 has revealed how he still lives in the same house and works.
Geoff, 51, from Bootle, won the huge sum a year ago, after taking part in a special competition.
Finalists in the Paddy Power Millionaire Chase were assigned a horse in the Imperial Cup race at Sandown. Held three days before the start of Cheltenham, Geoff watched on with glee as his runner Langer Dan bounded away from the opposition.
The Dan Skelton-trained horse was in line for a £50,000 bonus if he won at the Festival – and nearly pulled it off with a brave second.
He is again a contender to chase the double this year and has proved popular with punters in the build-up.
On the day itself, former lorry driver Geoff admits he had a funny feeling it was all going to work out well for him.
"People always say to you, did you think it would happen? And in truth, I didn’t have a doubt, I knew it," he said.
"But you don’t say that to people do you! I just thought it was my day. It was great, and then it finally sunk in. I called my dad. We were crying on the phone."
Geoff's big win touched the hearts of the racing public as he revealed how his family had overcome tragedy, following his son's death from cancer at the age of 18, nearly 11 years ago.
Down-to-earth Geoff said the main benefit of winning the cash was being able to help others out.
As he scooped the life-changing money during the coronavirus pandemic, when Cheltenham went ahead without a crowd, he had to wait to book a holiday.The family have since been to Majorca twice and taken a trip to Turkey.
Geoff has purchased a Range Rover, but resisted the urge for a new one, as well as sprucing the garden up with a jacuzzi and canopy plus some outdoor furniture.
But he said: "We haven’t moved to a new house because we like the house we’re in – we paid off the mortgage - but we’re settled here and at the moment it’s what we need.
"Our neighbours know what’s happened and everyone’s been great, no one has been horrible or treated us differently.
"What’s been really nice, given what’s happened to us as a family, with my son passing away, is that people say it couldn’t have happened to a nicer couple.
"And of course, we’ve been able to help some family members out too which was really nice – and that’s what the money has allowed us to do, it’s great we can do things like that."
To mark a year since his win, Geoff hopes to go one of the days at Cheltenham and place a couple of bets on Willie Mullins horses – and of course Langer Dan.
The following week he'll be back at work – and doesn't plan to give up any time soon.
"I left my previous job as a lorry driver and now work part time for a utilities company, helping their engineers get from one job to the next," he said. "I’m on stand-by for four days a week and go in when I’m called in and Kim (his wife) has gone down to three days a week.
"So, the win has really helped us in that way, in that you have more time to do things – although you still end up being really busy!
"We intend to keep working either on a short term or temporary basis for as long as we are able to.
"So that way we’ll have enough money to get by but don’t need to touch the savings."
