World of the Bizarre

Worker backs race winner after finding tip in 62-year-old time capsule

By T.K. Randall
June 7, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) The bizarre series of events began when Josh Smalls - a restoration site manager working at South London's Crystal Palace Park - became aware of a mysterious time capsule found nearby.

It contained four old coins and a note detailing the intentions of whoever had left it there.

The note explained that the coins had been won betting on a horse called 'Santa Claus' at the Epsom Derby in 1964. Whoever found the capsule, the author wrote, should use the money to bet on a future race by backing a horse whose name "can in some way be associated with 'Santa Claus'".

As it happened, this year's Derby happened to have a horse running named 'Christmas Day'."To find a piece of history like that - and for it to link up so well with the horse this year - it was kind of spooky," Smalls told the BBC. "I looked through the rosters of the last few years and couldn't find any other horse with a Christmassy name."

Smalls couldn't resist trying his luck on the aptly named horse and incredibly, it actually won.

The fact that the note had been found, coupled with the reference to a Christmas-themed horse and the fact that it actually won the race, made the whole thing remarkably strange and spooky.

To add to this even further - the man who found the capsule was named Craciun, which, as it happens, is the Romanian word for 'Christmas'...

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Time Capsule