BOOKIE Stephen Carysforth was out of pocket today after paying nearly £8,000 to a punter from a £2.50 stake.

Stephen, who runs the family bookmakers Carysforth Racing, in Johnston Street, Blackburn, with brother Michael was forced to pay out after all five horses on an each way accumulator came in at the weekend.

Stephen said the punter was a regular customer who wanted to keep his good fortune -- all 788,423 pence of it -- to himself and asked to remain anonymous.

All Stephen would say is that he is from Blackburn and had a huge smile on his face. Unlike the bookie.

He said: "He was very cheerful when he came in which you can imagine, anyone would be. He took the money, thanked me and then was off. It hurt handing over the cash but I am pleased that he was a regular and hopefully he will come back to place some more bets with us."

The accumulator bet is only successful if every selection wins. Each time a horse wins more money goes onto the next bet. By the time his last horse, Entail, was running at 8-1 he had almost £900 riding on it from £2.50. The odds of all five horses coming in are 33,000 to 1.

Stephen, who took over the bookies from dad Douglas after it was set up by his dad Tommy, said: "The man told me he thought he was dreaming when he came in; I wish he was.

"Our cash limit is £10,000 and we have not paid that out very often. It's unusual to get so much off one small stake."

The horses and their odds which led to his won were: Pension Fund at 13-2; Bright Edge at 11-4, Noel's Pride at 7-4, Alcayde at 7-2 and Entail at 8-1.