The Crime Book

94

IF THIS IS NOT

A RING-IN I’M

NOT HERE

THE FINE COTTON SCANDAL, 18 AUGUST 1984

T

he evening before the

Commerce Novice

Handicap race, held at

Brisbane’s Eagle Farm racetrack

on 18 August 1984, horse trainer

Hayden Haitana and businessman

John Gillespie applied white paint

and brown hair dye to a champion

seven-year-old horse. Not being a

novice, the champion horse was

ineligible for entry into the race,

but Haitana, Gillespie, and other

members of a syndicate including

businessman Robert North planned

to substitute their champion horse

for an eligible runner, an illegal

practice called a “ring-in”.

Racing under the name Fine

Cotton, the substitute horse started

the race slowly but quickly picked

up pace, galloping swiftly around

the corner, and edging out early

favourite Harbour Gold at the last

post. However, as soon as the race

ended, track stewards noticed

white paint dripping from Fine

Cotton’s legs. Less than half an

hour after the horse crossed the

finish line, he was disqualified

and all bets were lost.

Emergency substitute

Fine Cotton’s race lasted less than

90 seconds, but the entire plot

began months earlier. Prison cell

mates John Gillespie – who had a

history of illegal horse gambling

• and a relative of Haitana’s passed
  their time discussing a possible
  ring-in scam. After his release,
  Gillespie purchased a fast galloper
  from Sydney, Australia, named
  Dashing Solitaire for AUD $10,000
  (£5,880). He then scoured
  racetracks for a slower look-alike.

Hayden Haitana pictured with

the real Fine Cotton. Haitana was

prohibited from the sport for life for his

part in the betting scam, but his ban

was lifted in 2013.

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Brisbane, Queensland,

Australia

THEME

Betting scam

BEFORE

1844 The Epsom Derby,

reserved for three-year-old

horses, is won by four-year-old

Maccabeus, disguised as

Running Rein; the culprit, Levi

Goldman, escapes to France.

16 July 1953 Two French

horses with identical markings

are swapped at Spa Spelling

Stakes in Bath, England. The

four men involved are given

sentences varying from nine

months to three years.

AFTER

1 March 2007 Australian

racing jockey Chris Munce is

convicted of taking bribes in

exchange for racing tips and

sentenced to 20 months in jail.

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95

The ring-in horse “Fine Cotton” is

shown on the left, just beating the

favourite to the finishing post.

See also: The Tichborne Claimant 177

CON ARTISTS

He chose the out-of-form Fine

Cotton, which he purchased for

$2,000 (£1,175), and hired Hayden

Haitana as its trainer.

Days before the race, the

syndicate suffered a catastrophic

setback when Dashing Solitaire

was injured. By this point, Gillespie

had invested heavily in the scheme

and was desperate for a pay off.

So he paid $20,000 (£11,750) – with

a cheque that would later bounce

• for the horse Bold Personality.
  There was one snag: he did not
  look anything like Fine Cotton.
  Bold Personality was lighter in
  colour and had a white marking
  on his forehead. So, the night before
  the race, Gillespie and Haitana
  surreptitiously applied hair dye and
  paint to make him appear more like
  Fine Cotton.

Short odds

When “Fine Cotton” stepped onto

the racetrack, betting escalated

at a suspicious pace. The horse

started with odds of 33-1, but they

soon changed dramatically to 7-2.

After “Fine Cotton” narrowly won,

officials quickly spotted evidence

of the ring-in and the horse was

disqualified. Police began a

manhunt for the culprits, but by

then Haitana had fled. He was soon

apprehended, however, jailed for

six months, and banned from the

racetrack for life. Six others,

including Gillespie, were also

banned. The horse’s innocent

jockey, Gus Philpot, was cleared.

The ring-in became one of the

most notorious scams in the history

of the sport. To combat similar

plots, racehorses are now identified

through microchips. ■

Cheating in the “Sport of Kings”

A ring-in is not the only method

cheaters use to make money

illegally on the horse track.

Probably the best-known

scam is to engineer betting odds

by strategically placing large

bets. Bookmakers now closely

monitor betting patterns to

identify any suspicious activity.

Other tricksters have gone so far

as to create fake winning

tickets, but technological

improvements now make it

difficult for such crude practices

to succeed.

Most of the cheating occurs on

the other side of the rail, with

unscrupulous trainers, jockeys,

owners, and veterinarians

attempting to alter races

through collusion or by drugging

horses with steroids and pain

medication. Regular drug

testing has made this more

difficult, however. Crooked

trainers and jockeys have also

been known to use “buzzers”,

illegal devices that give the

horses electric shocks and force

them to run faster.

I thought they were booing

me because my ride was a

roughie and I must’ve beaten

the favourite.

Gus Philpot

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