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

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

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

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. 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. 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.

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.