Racing miracle as punter who won £7,000 while in coma breaks down in tears after beloved horse wins in pouring rain

A RACING miracle lit up a soaking wet Fontwell as a punter who won a £7,000 bet while in a coma broke down in tears after his latest big success.

Former brickie Trevor Jacobs scooped the big jackpot last March after son Ryan placed four bets on three horses, known as a trixie.

Jacobs won £7,000 while lying in intensive care – but was at the track to see his latest winner

Wheelchair-bound Jacobs was surrounded by his loved ones as he celebrated his horse winning

A stunned consultant told the racing fanatic as he lay in intensive care at Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth: “I can’t believe what I’m seeing. You can’t move and you can’t breathe or talk and you’ve just won £7,000.”

The latest chapter to his fairytale recovery came on Wednesday when his horse Soigneux Bell won a 2m1½f hurdle race.

Jacobs picked up £4,357 for the win – less than his bet – but to him nothing beat being back out on a racecourse.

Even if he was wrapped up in a blanket as wife Mary tried to keep warm in his wheelchair.

Paying tribute to the amazing care he received while his life was in the balance, though, he said there was only one thing missing.

Jacobs, who owned part of top horse Editeur Du Gite, told Sky Sports Racing: “I’ve been crying my eyes out.

“I’ve had lots of horses, but being in hospital 16 months… and laying in bed thinking of buying a horse, and I got this fella.

“He’s run fantastic. It’s great to be here. It’s an achievement in itself.

“My family are here but I just wish I could bring the nurses who looked after me all this time. They were fantastic.

“The NHS… until you’re in it you don’t know how good it is, the hospital was like a second home for me.”

Jacobs’ brush with death came after he returned from a golfing holiday in Bruges when his leg went weak during the early hours of the morning.

He managed to crawl down the stairs and phone his lad.

Medical tests were inconclusive but he was placed into a coma when the condition spread to his lungs.

His heart stopped twice but doctors were able to keep him alive.

He was eventually diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) – an auto-immune disease that shuts down bodily functions such as the ability to walk and breathe.

Jacobs, who is in his late 60s, said the whole ordeal was like having a ‘hand grenade being thrown into his body’.

But he showed inspirational resilience to make it out of hospital and back to his beloved races.

There was hardly a huge crowd at Fontwell to see his Gary Moore-trained horse win at 5-1.

But really all that mattered was that Jacobs himself was there.

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