A Sidmouth pooch’s lucky touch has bagged his delighted owners a top of the range console and hundreds of pounds in prize money – and now he’s aiming for a big win on the lottery.
Eight-year-old Buster has his own Xbox One to play on and hundreds of pounds in his Bonio bank, thanks to his raffle winnings and unwavering luck.
His owners Steve and Lyn Clarke, who own The Rendezvous in Fore Street, said they were even now planning to get him to turn his paw to helping them pick the winning lottery numbers.
Steve said that no-one remembered the couple’s names, but they always remembered lucky Buster, who was much better-known in Sidmouth than they were, even though they had lived in the town for more than half a decade.
The restaurant owners added their odd tail all began when they started entering the raffle at their local pub, the Radway Inn, using the dog’s name.
Since then, the Columbus Spaniel has won first prize three times, getting his paws on £150 in a Rugby World Cup draw, an Xbox One at a Christmas raffle and £100 at a Grand National draw on Saturday.
Speaking to the Herald exclusively, Steve said: “He just keeps winning for us. We are going to get a washing basket and fill it with ping pong balls with numbers on – then we will send him to pick the numbers we need for the lottery. We kept putting Buster’s name down for the raffle as everybody knows and remembers him – if we put ‘Steve and Lyn’, they would be like ‘who is that?’.
“We still get people asking now, how is he getting on with his Xbox and we always joke and say we have just bought him a new game - Dogs of War.
“He is well-known for his remarkable luck at winning first prize in the raffle
“As far as I know, he is the only one of his kind in Sidmouth.
“He is one-of-a-kind and is lucky and very well-loved. We get people coming in just to see him who are on holiday and visit every year. He is loved by our customers in the restaurant and will go and sit with them if they like dogs.”
When asked what they would do for Buster if they won the lottery, the couple said: “We would probably buy him a brother or sister and then go on holiday, although maybe not in that order.”
Landlady Alison O’Hara, at the Radway Inn, said: “Congratulations again to Buster for winning the Grand National Sweepstake, he really is a very lucky dog.
“However, when he won the Xbox in the Christmas draw I think he was a little disappointed and would have gladly swapped his prize with Dave Turvey who won the big box of Bonios -I don’t think Dave would have minded either.
“I think we can all agree that we’re hoping he gets England in the World Cup Sweepstake.”
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