Gay Future bettg plot still holds fascatn at Cartmel, 40 years on | Horse racg | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY FUTURE BETTG PLOT STILL HOLDS FASCATN AT CARTMEL, 40 YEARS ON
• SPORTG CONTROVERSI: WONRFUL VILMENT OF GAY FUTURE STROKE STILL RONAT
• WHICH RACEURSE WAS THE SCENE OF THE ‘GAY FUTURE AFFAIR’?
• GAY FUTURE
• MURPHYS STROKE - GAY FUTURE CARTMEL GAMBLE
• A NEARLY PERFECT COUP; THE GAY FUTURE AFFAIR

GAY FUTURE BETTG PLOT STILL HOLDS FASCATN AT CARTMEL, 40 YEARS ON

Twenty-first century plotters, sophistited as they may be, have not yet reached the stage of terptg the flow of electricy to targeted one view Cartmel might have been gettg s jt serts if there had been nefar activy on the day s officials chose to celebrate the Gay Future up. He was terviewed by the track’s PR man, who suggted the story was tremendo fun and that those punished were harshly ed that is the general view of Gay Future among racg fans the days, their light lyg chiefly the way the plotters managed to avoid alarmg the bookmakers until was too late.

SPORTG CONTROVERSI: WONRFUL VILMENT OF GAY FUTURE STROKE STILL RONAT

Thoands of pounds were staked bettg shops around Bra apparently nocuo doubl and trebl, the sort of bets favoured by mugs; when two of the hors volved beme non-nners, as was always tend, the booki realised they were facg an avalanche of sgle bets on Gay would still have been time for them to fluence his odds had he been nng at any other Brish track but the only phone le to Cartmel those days end an unmanned, red public phone box. In ntrast Gay Future bolted up at odds of turned out to be amic, sce most firms refed to pay up, a stance vdited by the subsequent urt verdict.

Yet not only did Gay Future w, he did so imprsive style, routg the field by 15 lengths at mouth-waterg odds of Future's victory was the fal part of what was arguably the most gen horse-racg bettg up of all time.

Operatn Crock Of Gold was a cunng plan hatched a year earlier Ireland to relieve bookmakers on both sis of the Irish Sea of around £300, 000 (more than £3ln today) and me agonisgly close to scheme volved the swchg of hors and jockeys, disguis, a novel e of soap-flak and took advantage of tradnal bank holiday traffic also relied on a knowledge of bettg l and the isolatn of the quat Cartmel raceurse the Lake like many other brilliant plans that ultimately failed the plotters me unstuck through one simple mistake that they should have foreen and that lerally st them a men behd the Gay Future affair were a lourful bunch of diverse rglear was Tony Murphy, a flamboyant cigar-smokg lnaire builr om County Cork who drove around a gold Rolls-Royce, which often had wheelbarrows and bags of cement stickg out of s wanted to pull off a mighty gamble to h the bookmakers Ireland and Bra for six and was while he was havg a drk wh his iends 1973 that he me up wh what he thought was a foolproof way of dog Colls pictured Augt 1974 [REX]The servic of two racehorse traers, Edward O'Grady, based Ireland, and Old Harrovian Tony Colls, a stockbroker who had a small yard Stland, were enlisted. Colls was sent a chtnut racehorse whout any abily whose paperwork intified him as Gay the real Gay Future, who looked siar to the other horse, was beg traed to perfectn by O'Grady Ireland. Colls was stcted to enter Gay Future a race at Cartmel on Augt bank holiday days before the race the real Gay Future me over by boat om Ireland and was taken a horsebox to a quiet lane close to Cartmel raceurse where he was transferred to Colls' horsebox, ready for the race the followg syndite knew Gay Future was a certaty for the race but if they had simply placed lots of big bets on the horse the bookmakers would have been they disguised what they were dog.

WHICH RACEURSE WAS THE SCENE OF THE ‘GAY FUTURE AFFAIR’?

Colls was told to enter two other hors meetgs elsewhere England wh rac takg place five and 10 mut before and after Gay Future's race at on the morng of the big day Murphy and his associat flew to London and ma a tour of bettg shops, placg a vast amount of "multiple bets" uplg Gay Future wh Colls' other two although Colls travelled to Plumpton East Ssex, where one of his hors was entered, there was never any plan to n the other hors. What Tony Murphy was asked urtThey were entered as ys to be whdrawn at the last mute, to put the booki off the 's syndite knew that as the other hors would be nonnners all the money they had placed on multiple bets would end up gog on Gay Future - the one horse that was fely gog to race. Meanwhile at Cartmel everythg was done to put punters off backg Gay the race soapflak were bbed on to the horse's body to make look as if he was sweatg up.

"The horse me to the paddock lookg like Father Christmas, " Tony Colls later experienced amatr who had been down to ri Gay Future the morng newspapers was replaced the saddle by a top Irish amatr lled Tim Jon, who had ridn the real Gay Future pretend to have trouble mountg his horse, all signed to make s price O'Grady's head lad, who had been workg wh Gay Future Ireland, disguised himself wh a wig and sunglass at the track so that no one would regnise geni of choosg Cartmel as the venue to land the gamble, and dog on an Augt bank holiday - the bit day of the racg year - now me to play. Cartmel was not nnected to the bookmakers' Exchange Telegraph system by which firms uld munite to their reprentativ at the this premobile phone age there was jt one way of ntact wh the outsi world: a red phone box which members of Murphy's gang ma sure was kept permanently bookmakg firm Ladbrok realised uld face a sizeable payout wh a Gay Future w and so sent a motorbike rir om Manchter to drive to Cartmel to place bets on the horse to shorten his he got ught the bank holiday traffic and when he arrived the race was already Crock Of Gold syndite got ready to pop the champagne rks. This is the story about a horse lled Gay Future and how was the centre of a huge bettg stg the 1970s.

Over the urse of a year, the two men had sent an ferr horse to rac Stland to ensure Gay Future would appear to be a long shot. This helped to tablish reviews of Gay Future as a poor performer and raise the odds of him wng. They bet on Gay Future as part of a double or triple ticket wh Opera Cloak and Anrwyke who were later whdrawn om the race, makg a sgle bet as per the ctom of the time.

GAY FUTURE

The reporter’s cursy had been roed when news of the big wngs for Gay Future turned out to be lked to bets wh the two hors. If racg’s appeal really is built on the allure of rpectable skulduggery then Gay Future’s w at a lowly track Cumbria on an Augt Bank Holiday 1974 helped stamp the sport’s roguish reputatn the popular imagatn and then bare tails are that a good horse, Gay Future, was prepared Ireland by a pable traer to n a very bad race Bra. Sure enough Gay Future bolted at the movie Brosnan plays the Irish traer, Edward O’Grady, h out of Blackrock College and veterary school, wh a stellar racg reer his future.

Cartmel Raceurse Cumbria, scene of Gay Future’s famo gamblg stroke on the Augt Bank Holiday 1974.

MURPHYS STROKE - GAY FUTURE CARTMEL GAMBLE

But a dramatic sense unqutnably is bee a bettg plot rried out by Irishmen 1970s Bra is impossible to unravel om the much wir and terwoven polil ntext of those sur there’s far more to the Gay Future affair than ivoly. A month before the Cartmel race, Colls received an unnamed chtnut geldg to his yard wh documents ditg him to be Gay Future.

The real Gay Future ntued to be prepared Tipperary by O’Grady and was sent across the Irish Sea two days beforehand. Down a quiet untry lane, the two hors got ’s plan was for Gay Future to figure var double and treble bets wh two other Colls-traed hors entered to n at Plumpton and Southwell on the same day.

Then all bets would change to sgl on Gay a proven wner on the Flat, Gay Future looked to be much better than his rivals the Ulverston Novice Hurdle. Other optics clud soap flak gettg bbed onto Gay Future's flanks to suggt he was sweatg his chance this time off-urse bookmakers had ttoned on to somethg beg up. There were one or two notable exceptns who treated as vagari of the bettg war, the tsle that meant, for stance, had Gay Future been beaten, or fallen, or got tripped up, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance hell of the booki returng the loot on any kd of technily.

A NEARLY PERFECT COUP; THE GAY FUTURE AFFAIR

What beme known as the ‘Gay Future Affair’ was an gen, but ultimately unsuccsful, bettg up that was attempted at Cartmel Raceurse Cumbria, North Wt England on Bank Holiday Monday, Augt 26, 1974. Mastermd by Cork nstctn magnate Tony Murphy, the attempted up volved two hors, the ‘real’ Gay Future, who was traed Tipperary by Edward O’Grady, and another four-year-old chtnut geldg, who was sent to perm-holr Tony Colls Troon, Stland, wh unterfe documents intifyg him as Gay Future.