Click here to read the story of a horse named Gay Future and the reasons behd beg the centre of a huge bettg stg the 1970's.
Contents:
GAY FUTURE BETTG PLOT STILL HOLDS FASCATN AT CARTMEL, 40 YEARS ON
VERY few of the racegoers who watched a horse lled Gay Future walkg around the para rg before the 4.20 race at Cartmel raceurse exactly 40 years ago today, on Augt bank holiday Monday 1974, would have fancied his chanc. * horse gay future *
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.
Lake District urse remembers bettg nspiracy which hged on 10-1 chance Gay Future wng at Cartmel * horse gay future *
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.
* horse gay future *
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.