A BOLTON bookmaker is celebrating after winning £200,000 with a horse he bought for a mere £36,750.

And racing experts are now predicting that Paul Dean's horse, Sir George Turner, will become a major classic contender next year.

Mr Dean, who has a string of betting shops in the Greater Manchester area, including two in Bolton and two in Leigh, bought the horse for 35,000 guineas -- a relatively small amount of money compared to the millions paid for bloodstock by the oil-rich Maktoum family of Dubai and the Irish-based trio of Michael Tabor/John Magnier/Aiden O'Brien.

But the two-year-old colt this week won the £400,000 Tattersalls Houghton Sales Stakes at Newmarket, the home of British flat racing. The horse, priced at 10-1, beat hot favourite Landseer, representing the O'Brien stable, and Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum's Desert Warning in a close finish.

Major bookmakers now make Sir George Turner a 33-1 shot for next year's Epsom Derby. His Middleham-based trainer Mark Johnston says he will not run again this season but be put away and prepared for a classic campaign in 2002.

The colt, who earned a mind-boggling £200,000 with his hard-fought victory, is sired by the renowned classic winner Nashwan.

Mr Dean is no stranger to success with his purchases, having won good races with similarly-priced horses Bouncing Bowdler and Deano's Beeno.

Deano's Beeno subsequently left Mark Johnston for a career over jumps with National Hunt's leading trainer Martin Pipe.

Mr Dean, though, was not at Newmarket for his triumph this week as he is in the middle of a two-week cruise on the QE2. The BEN has been told that he followed the race commentary on the ship-to-shore telephone.

Mr Dean named his horse after another leading Manchester bookmaker George Turner, former boss of the Mick Dines chain, who has worked tirelessly for many years on a number of committee linked to the industry.