A YORK stable worker thought it was "too good to be true" when he found a winning betting ticket for a horse owned by soccer legend Kevin Keegan - and he was right.

For Paul Machen's attempt to claim the winnings on the ticket landed him before a court.

Machen, 28, of The Stable Hostel, Tadcaster Road, York, was found guilty by Selby magistrates of dishonestly attempting to obtain £210 from bookmaker William Hunt.

He was given an unconditional discharge and ordered to pay £75 costs.

Machen, who worked at stables near York Racecourse, found the orange ticket on the Knavesmire during a lunch break on Monday June 18.

The ticket was for a £130 bet, worth £210 in winnings, on a horse called Funfare Wayne, a hot favourite which had run and won on the previous Saturday.

The court was told the horse was owned by former England star Kevin Keegan, now manager of Manchester City.

Ironically, the defendant had placed a bet on the second-placed horse in the same race and lost his money.

He found the undamaged ticket on the ground and sent it to the National Joint Pitch Council to claim the winnings.

About six weeks later police officers contacted Machen and arrested him.

Helen Dawson, prosecuting, said the ticket was a "lay-off" bet between two bookmakers standing next to each other in an enclosure on the Knavesmire. It was easily traced as already having been paid to one of the bookmakers.

She said it had somehow become lost during the race day, possibly by slipping from a bookmaker's clipboard.

Machen, who denied the charge, told the court how the find cheered up his day.

He said: "I thought it was too good to be true, but then that is how things normally happen in my life things that seem good turn out to be bad."

He added that he planned to spend the money on dental treatment.

For Machen, Simon Nellar said it was just like finding a lottery ticket on the street and his client had assumed he could claim the money.

Presiding magistrate Eric Postles said he was concerned about the procedures relating to trade betting.

He said: "We are concerned that a situation where live tickets were blowing about the course due to carelessness by the bookmakers could result in temptation to the finder."

Updated: 09:10 Thursday, December 06, 2001