“Happy New Year Nurse” from Fort Washington claims a $31,233 Racetrax prize after coming back to game after a brief hiatus.
A Fort Washington Racetrax fan who recently came back to the game after taking a break is welcomed back with a $31,233 trifecta box win from a race on Jan. 12. She had only been playing for a couple of weeks after her hiatus and had stopped at her favorite retailer to play her favorite game.
“Happy New Year Nurse,” a name chosen for publicity purposes, says she was on her way home from work when she stopped at her “good luck store,” Best 1 Food Market, to play Racetrax. She said she looks at the horses’ names and watches how they place in previous games and uses that as a basis to make her pick, which in this case were the long odds 10, 11 and 12 ponies.
She placed a $1 trifecta box bet for 20 games for those horses to finish in any order. “Happy New Year Nurse” also played numerous other Racetrax tickets and sat and watched the races play out.
“I didn’t see right away because I had so many tickets spread out,” she said, adding, “I looked up and saw the numbers and was scrambling trying to find the right ticket.”
When she found it, she headed straight to the cashier who confirmed her win of $31,233.
“My stomach was in knots,” the Prince George’s County player said. “I was so elated.”
In the week preceding the day “Happy New Year Nurse” claimed her winnings, she kept her ticket in a very inconspicuous place.
“When it wasn’t locked up at home, I kept it in an envelope, folded up in my shoe,” she laughed. “Yup, I walked around with the ticket under my foot.”
The player claimed the prize on Jan. 20. She shared with Lottery Officials at the headquarters in Baltimore that she plans to put her winnings away as her “nest egg.” A planned medical procedure will have her out of work for a few weeks and she’ll need the extra funds to fall back on.
“Happy New Year Nurse” found her lucky ticket at the Best 1 Food Market at 4225 Southern Avenue in Capitol Heights. The business receives a bonus of $312.33, equal to 1% of the prize total.
