Betting Coups - Gay Future

The ‘coup’, as it was referred to by the sympathetic judge, had been organised by Tony Murphy, and other members of the ‘Cork mafia’. They had chosen the busiest day of the racing calendar, and the most secluded track. Remember the ‘blower’, the commentary in every high street bookies, the Extel? Cartmel didn’t have it. It was connected to the outside world by a single pay-phone...

There was to be no racing, not even behind closed doors. The writing had been on the wall.

Old Gold High Command convened for crisis talks. ‘What is our response?’, demanded a voice.

‘Um .. we could just buy another horse and put him on sale’. Silence.

‘You mean increase productivity by 100% when everyone else is closing down?

‘Sure’.

‘Any objections?’ Silence. ‘Agreed. What else?’

‘How about writing stuff for the site that makes people feel better, good stories from the past, nostalgia?’ ‘Such as?’

‘Well, Gay Future in 1974. The ring-in, when that Irish millionaire tried to con the London bookies for £250,000. Plus it would remind everyone of what they were doing when they were young and happy and life was good”. ‘Approved. Any other business?’ Silence. ‘Dismissed’. Fools rush in. 1974 wasn’t that happy.

In January, Edward Heath introduced the 3-day week. The miners were on strike and inflation was 18%. By March, Harold Wilson was Prime Minister. In the US, Nixon resigned – after Watergate – and was replaced by Gerald Ford.

Norman Hunter missed a simple ball, Poland scored on the breakaway, and England failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time ever. Alf Ramsay was sacked and replaced by Don Revie. Brian Clough succeeded Revie at Leeds and was got rid of after 44 days, Bill Shankley resigned the Liverpool job and retired, and Manchester United were relegated. England’s cricketers drew 0-0 with Pakistan and Zaheer Abbas scored 240 not out at Lords.

The Carpenters were Top of the World, Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo, Lord Lucan disappeared and Monty Python broadcast their final episode. Jacob Bronowski, writer and presenter of The Ascent of Man, died, and Tim Henman was born.

Beer was 20p per pint and, on the August Bank Holiday Monday, Gay Future won the Ulverston Novices Hurdle at Cartmel, at odds of 10/1.

A horse masquerading as Gay Future had been placed with an obscure Scottish trainer, Tony Collins, Old Harrovian, St Moritz Tabogganing Club. It was swapped for the real thing the day before the race in a lay-by off the M62. Collins had two other ‘entries’ on the day, both at different tracks. Both, it had been agreed, were to be scratched.

The mafia flew into Heathrow with £30,000 in cash, spread out and went to work. Doubles and trebles on Collins’ horses were struck at £5, £10 and £20. It was an attempt to conceal from the bookmakers that the bets were, in reality, singles. William Hill eventually worked out what was happening. They stopped taking bets but they couldn’t contact the track. They stuffed two grand into someone’s pocket and dispatched him in a cab – his brief was to back Gay Future and bring the price down – but he missed the race. Some Cork boys were already there, betting on the field, forcing the price up, and using soap flakes on Gay Future’s flanks to work up a fake sweat.

In 1980 Murphy’s Stroke, a 75 minute TV drama which tells the story, was made.

It features a 26-year old Pearce Brosnan. This was before Remington Steele and long before Bond. He doesn’t play the lead and he doesn’t act the star. Consultants were John Oaksey and Brough Scott.

It was a world of smoked filled rooms and directory enquiries. There were no mobile phones or emails, no internet.

Most nostalgic of all is that this was an era when the BBC knew how to make drama.

Murphy’s Stroke would be worth staying in for even if you could go out. As it is, settle down with a drink and prepare to forget your troubles