Surprised Bettors Win $1.15M on Hollywood Pick 6

(edited press release)
Jack Ford and his daughter Lyn Ford showed up to Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress Gardens, Calif., last Thursday evening thinking that they were holding a couple of Pick Six tickets worth $4,480.
    
They were off by about $1,150,000. 
    
The Fords, who reside approximately five miles from the Orange County track, instead found out that they had the July 2 record setting Pick Six at Hollywood Park twice, once with a $2 ticket and then again with a $4 ticket.
    
Both tickets were purchased at Los Alamitos on Monday morning. Each of the winning tickets was worth $576,040. The Fords also had one ticket with five out of six worth $2,240, which meant that their $6 investment translated to $1,154,321 in earnings. "I didn't bother to check the results right away because I never expected to win with a $2 or $4 ticket," said Ford, a retired mechanic.
    
"I had played the Pick Six on Sunday as well and when it carried over to Monday's program that's when I decided to come out and play again. I made the bets and went home.
    
"I knew all of the results except the one for the fifth leg of the Pick Six," Ford added. "I asked my daughter to look at that result on the computer and to write the winning number on a piece of paper without telling me the number.
    
"We drove to Los Alamitos to cash what I still thought was a ticket for five out of six. When we arrived at the track I asked her to tell me the number that she had written down. When she told me it was the #1 horse I just said 'Holy Cow."'
    
When asked why he decided to wait until he arrived at the track for find out the fate of his wager, Ford smiled and said, "I was too nervous to look. Winning is great but a near miss can leave you with an excruciating feeling. I didn't want that feeling. Plus, if I had known earlier that I had six of six I would have crashed the car driving here because of the excitement."