This article is from page 12 of the 2006-04-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
A CLARE punter has scooped almost €700,000 tipping the top 10 national hunt horses for the season.
Brian Munnelly, a meteorologist at Shannon Airport, placed a €16 bet in the UK ‘totetentofollow competition’ winning €689,000 after the Grand National on Saturday.
Ironically, it was a horse with strong Clare connections and winner of the Grand National, Numbersixvalverde that helped the 60-year old to scoop the prize.
Speaking from his home in Shannon town last night, Mr Munnelly said: “I was leading the competition going into the Grand National and didn’t have any horse running in the race, but the man coming second had backed ‘Hedgehunter’, which of course finished second in the race to Numbersixvalverde.”
If ‘Hedgehunter’ had won the National, Mr Munnelly would have lost out but in the end, he won by one solitary point after leading the competition since Christmas.
The single man said that he intends to use the majority of the winnings to buy a property in Dublin where he has spent most of his life.
Due to retire later this year, the Wexford-born man said: “I have spent 30 to 40 years of my life in Dublin and I’m looking forward to returning there when I retire.”
“I don’t expect any big change to my life. I won’t be going too wild with my winnings and buying big cars or anything like that.”
He said he plans to settle on the northside of Dublin where his parents hail from. “I won’t be too ambitious in the home I will be purchasing.”
Mr Munnelly found out that he had won the competition 20 minutes after the Grand National. He said: “I did not have a horse in the National so I was sweating,” he said.
The champion tipster put his success down to luck and a lifetime of watching horse racing.
“I have been going to Cheltenham for the last 35 years and I watch a lot of racing and I’ve got a lot of knowledge from it, so it’s time it paid off,” he said
Advising would-be punters, Mr Munnelly said: “Do your research and be lucky.”
The ‘totetentofollow’ works in a similar way to fantasy football with contestants picking 10 horses to follow throughout the season.
Each horse picks up points for winning races with bonus points available for winning prestigious races such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup or the Grand National.
Among Mr Munnelly’s successful tips were Irish pair War of Attrition and Brave Inca, winners of the Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival last month.