Someone in Newcastle has won £394,487. Is it you?

A bookmaking chain is trying to find a young woman in her twenties who has landed a £394,487 windfall but appears not to realise what her £2 bet has delivered. The long-haired punter placed a winning £2 Scoop6 bet on six televised races on Channel 4 and the BBC last weekend at a BetFred shop in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne shortly after noon last Saturday, It is the first time in the pool bet's 13 year history that a winner has failed to come forward to collect a major prize and bookmaker suspects the woman may have been misled because only four of her original selections came first – Sea Moon 3-1, Punita 5-2, Reem Star 11-2 and Dandy Boy 33-1. But as her other two selections in the first two races were non-runners, under the rules of the Scoop6 bet they automatically transfer to the favourite in each race and the leading market fancy landed both races with Angels Will Fall at 7-2 and Trojan Rocket at 3-1. The woman – who may work in a shop or office in the city – has a deadline to meet to register for a free pick in the bonus race on Saturday at her local track in Newcastle: the John Smith's Northumberland Plate – known as the Pitmen's Derby , which could add the bonus fund of £251,966 to her existing winnings. The staff at the shop in Adelaide Terrace, Benwell, have their own reasons for hoping that she does turn up: they will be in line for a £5,000 bonus tjemselves if she finds the winner of the Plate. But she needs to register her win with BetFred before a cut off point ahead of the big race. The miserable weather proved to be the woman's friend. Due to the torrential rain last Saturday, a total of 18 horses were withdrawn from the six Scoop6 races. In the last one, the Wokingham Handicap from Royal Ascot, the Newcastle punter was the only player with a ticket on the eventual winner Dandy Boy at 33-1, despite 586 ticket holders having chances in the race. Fred Done , the head of BetFred, says: Usually punters are banging my doors down to collect their winnings and I'm worried that our Scoop6 winner may not actually know they've won. I urge anyone who played the Scoop6 in the Newcastle area last weekend to check their tickets just in case they're sitting on the windfall – especially as they only spent £2. Here is the woman's winning selection, plus the numbers of rival punters who made the same choice: After Leg 1 - 2.25 Ayr: Angels Will Fall 36,081 After Leg 2 - 2.40 Newmarket: Trojan Rocket 12,136 After Leg 3 - 3.05 Ascot: Sea Moon 6,204 After Leg 4 - 3.10 Newmarket: Punita 4,331 After Leg 5 - 3.30 Ayr: Reem Star 586 After Leg 6 - 4.25 Ascot: Dandy Boy 1 Charles Yates is a freelance journalist.