0:04

It's sports bizarre. Some of these stories

0:06

you would say that cannot be true.

0:08

The hunt for

0:10

the weirdest. This is madness. It's

0:13

a masterclass in how not to

0:15

do things. The most airbrained Steve

0:17

Oat ever. Strangers. Oh wow, you

0:19

can't make this up. Things are

0:21

only going to get more bonkers.

0:23

Most unbelievable. Most genius singer I've

0:26

ever heard. You say evil. I

0:28

say brilliant. Stories to ever occur.

0:30

An unparalleled array of deadbeats. A

0:32

mecca for colourful characters. In the world

0:34

of sports. Had a taste for testicle soup.

0:37

Can I just stop you for a second?

0:39

Don't act like you've never done this. Sports

0:41

bizarre. Open his mouth and a sparrow flew

0:43

out. Sweat face down with

0:45

a compass to make sure that his

0:47

head was pointing north. He had so

0:49

many sixes into the members that they

0:51

retrieved him to the bar. I'd better

0:53

lie down after that. It's time for

0:55

the leaders of the hunt. It's 10

0:57

cent beer night at the bull bar.

0:59

It's Titus O'Reilly and Mick Malloy. Welcome

1:02

to the very first

1:05

episode of Sports

1:07

Bazaar for

1:10

2024 with me Mick Malloy and your host. As

1:12

always, doing the heavy lifting, it's Titus

1:14

O'Reilly. Oh Mick, we're back. We're back.

1:17

Isn't it great? For the first time,

1:19

I'm guessing all our fans will have missed

1:22

us. It would have been a while. We

1:24

had the summer series where I was interviewing

1:26

people. I beg your pardon. How'd

1:28

that work? I told you about this.

1:30

You're looking at me like I was

1:32

cheating on you. Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.

1:34

A little time out.

1:36

What's the summer series? I interviewed

1:38

a bunch of people from Andrew

1:40

Ruhl on... Well, Bookies Council. Yeah,

1:43

I interviewed Ryan Curtis

1:45

from The Ringer. He's got a solo album. I think of

1:47

it like my... The Lift of the Band. I thought it

1:49

was like my acoustic tour. I

1:53

told you about this numerous times. People kept

1:55

coming up and telling me all about it.

1:57

Yeah, it was great, but it wasn't the

1:59

same I enjoyed the Mets. The

2:02

Devin Gordon, yeah. Makes you feel better about

2:04

your own team, doesn't it? It's nice

2:06

to know that there's always someone out there that's

2:08

having a worse time of it. So he's a

2:10

super fan of the New York Mets. When

2:13

you do unpack it, that team has

2:15

let them down in ways over

2:18

the years, that's unimaginable. The title of his

2:20

book was So Many Ways to Lose. And

2:23

that was it. So you got the teams that just

2:25

are no good ever. Don't

2:27

have a listen to that. But they're always on the

2:29

cusp. The teams that almost get there and

2:31

then fall over every time. Well, it was

2:33

when my team, Richmond, finished ninth for about

2:35

20 years in a row. Yeah. They had

2:37

the same capacity to get

2:40

your hopes up. Every time it looked like it

2:42

was going to go well. That's the art. You

2:44

have to get your hopes up. They have to

2:46

do enough to make you feel. At no point

2:48

just being shit-outs. That team are never going to

2:50

drag you through all the highs and lows of

2:52

what it is. No, well, when my team, Melbourne,

2:54

went out and used it for years, it was

2:56

like, we'll win four games for the whole year.

3:00

You're upset, but it's kind of like you

3:02

had no focus. There was nothing

3:04

to be crushed anymore. Buckle up for a bit of

3:06

heartache this year too. That's

3:08

what I'm tipping. Hey, here we

3:11

are. Piping Hot episode,

3:13

our first in the old format

3:16

for the year. I wonder what you've come

3:18

back with. Because you've had all summer to

3:20

steward. I've had all summer to steward this.

3:22

But we should mention before we move into

3:24

the app show episode, we've got live shows.

3:26

Two live shows. Why am I hearing about this from

3:28

first off? When am I? February

3:32

20th. Now that's sold out.

3:34

That's coming round quickly. That's sold out. February

3:36

27th has got a few tickets. It's sold

3:38

out? Why can't I get some friends in? That's

3:42

totally sold out the first one. There's not many left

3:44

for the second one. So if you're hearing this now,

3:46

I'd go and get them. Because there's about 20 tickets

3:49

left. This is at the Corner Hotel in Richmond. Mick,

3:52

we even got the venue so you could walk

3:54

to it. That's literally what we did.

3:56

We got a map. And we went,

3:58

how can we make this pub? mix out.

4:00

Yeah, it's at a court hotel. Now we would

4:02

like to do this in other states down the

4:04

track so people don't write to us saying we

4:07

are mindful but we just thought it's

4:10

too much of a stretch to get Mick to leave

4:12

Richmond in for the first round. If you've

4:14

got a good pub near your place we

4:16

can do, most of those tickets went to

4:18

our members of course who snapped them up.

4:20

That's right, they got the first chance. First

4:22

dibs, just one of the benefits of being

4:25

one of our members. This doesn't give me

4:27

a lot of time to prepare. You're known for your prep

4:29

for the event. What's the format? Well we're

4:32

going to get up and do the live podcast. We

4:34

might even have guests. That's another

4:36

thing we're doing. We might even do a Q&A. There's

4:39

lots of things we're sort of thinking for

4:41

it. It will be a good guest for

4:43

us. Oh there's so many I think. Joe

4:45

Hockey. Joe Hockey. I know. I just, it's

4:47

a first name that came by my mind.

4:52

That is on your mind. Do

4:54

you know I spent, sidebar,

4:57

I spent the American election

4:59

where Trump was elected, ended

5:01

up with me and Joe Hockey sitting

5:04

on a couch in the Australian Embassy

5:06

in Washington smoking a cigar. That's how

5:08

that night ended when Trump won. I

5:10

went to the Australian Embassy to

5:13

watch the election. They had a big party plan

5:15

and no one saw it coming. No

5:17

everyone thought that was going to happen. No one. And

5:19

it was all over quick sticks. And

5:22

I couldn't get into the embassy because I didn't

5:24

have any ID. So Joe Hockey had to ring

5:26

down and go, he's with me. Did you say

5:28

you know who I am? I did. I made

5:30

a circular motion around my face. This is my

5:33

past. I've

5:35

got diplomatic immunity. In a

5:38

number of countries. You're the one person that could

5:40

tell any story to me and at the end

5:42

go, and at the end

5:45

of the night it was just me and

5:47

and insert almost any name in the

5:50

world into that next bit. And I'd go, oh

5:52

yeah, you know, like it

5:54

wouldn't matter who politician, movie star, whatever.

6:01

It's just straight away your life. If

6:03

our members would know, and we're going

6:05

to stop this waffle in a second

6:07

and get into the X episode, but

6:09

the members would remember in one of

6:11

the bonus episodes, you told the wonderful

6:13

story and it shows that your life

6:15

goes wherever it goes, is once you

6:17

were walking back from the city after

6:20

a night out on the tile and

6:22

slept in Captain Cook's cottage for the

6:24

night. I'm honest I'd had a couple

6:28

and it was the closest place. As

6:30

I said, those beds are small. Yeah, you

6:32

said that. They had the tiny house but

6:34

the bed, like my ankles are right over the edge

6:37

of that thing. It needs a tip,

6:39

get out before dawn. This is like a nightmarish version of

6:41

Goldilocks. This bed was

6:43

too small. All right, now let's

6:45

get in it. What do you come back with? So

6:47

this episode, and I think it's going to be a

6:49

two part of this episode, is the

6:51

one I get asked to do more

6:53

than any other episode, the topic I

6:56

get asked, when are you and Mick

6:58

doing this? This is, I've literally

7:00

been stopped in the street a few times by

7:02

people who say, I love the podcast, are

7:05

you going to do this? And if you're

7:07

in Australia, you will know this story. There's so much

7:09

more to it than anyone ever realises. And

7:12

if you're in overseas, just know this is

7:14

a bonkers Australian racing story. It's

7:17

about a horse called fine cotton. Fine

7:20

cotton of fear. It's often called the

7:22

fine cotton scandal or the fine cotton of fear.

7:25

You'd argue in Australian history, there's two

7:28

race horses that are more famous than

7:30

any other race horses. That is fine

7:32

cotton and farlap. They're

7:35

known for the complete opposite reasons.

7:38

Farlap came along the depression, won

7:40

everything, was a hero to

7:42

the nation. Everyone bet

7:44

on him and won lots of money at the

7:46

hardest time and you know, is one of the

7:48

greats. Fine cotton, he

7:51

is set against a totally different

7:54

world to the depression Australia. He's

7:56

set against the corrupt world of

7:58

Queensland in the nineteen. At

8:00

the height of their corruption, they're saying

8:02

something. So think

8:05

of you hear these stories of

8:07

America in the prohibition, they're all

8:09

like down south. Yeah, it's a

8:12

very freewheeling. Everyone is corrupt.

8:14

Everyone is in on the grid. To set

8:17

this up, fine cotton was a terrible

8:19

racehorse, you know, but that didn't stop

8:21

a lot of things happening around it.

8:23

So Queensland at the time, and I think it's

8:25

worth setting this because if you were born in

8:28

the 90s, you probably don't realise how big this

8:30

was. Or if you're

8:32

over overseas, from 1987 and 89, the

8:34

inquiry into possible illegal activities and

8:37

associated police misconduct inquiry, which became

8:39

known as the Fitzgerald inquiry. It's

8:41

only Fitzgerald because we either did

8:43

it. So this happens after fine

8:46

cotton, but it shows you the world that fine cotton

8:48

was operating in. It was this

8:50

huge inquiry ran for two years and it looked at

8:53

who was corrupt in the

8:55

Queensland state as a whole, not

8:57

just any one area. And

9:00

basically found that the police force to

9:02

the very top and

9:04

the political thing to the very top, which are

9:06

the premier, which is Joe BLK, Peter, the equivalent

9:08

of a governor in America, think of it like

9:11

that. We're all in

9:14

on widespread organised corruption

9:17

in arms with criminals, drug

9:19

dealers, prostitution rings and in

9:22

a huge way, the illegal book bankers,

9:24

the legal bookies. Who's the minister for

9:26

police? Is this Russ Hins? Yeah, Russ

9:28

Hins was the one. So you had

9:31

Terry Lewis as the police commissioner. He

9:34

eventually went to jail and got

9:36

his knighthood stripped and was found

9:38

to be just like completely corrupt

9:41

after the Fitzgerald inquiry. He got arrested and

9:44

everything. The assistant commissioner Graham Parker, he testified

9:46

to get immunity and he'd taken $130,000 in

9:48

bribes. Yes. That's

9:51

what they knew about that he admitted

9:53

to. He was the one that

9:55

tipped Terry Lewis. His boss in has also

9:58

been things. Three government ministers. Don

10:00

Lane, Brian Austin and Leisha Harvey all

10:02

end up serving jail time. Wow. Russ

10:05

Hins, he died of criminal charges before

10:07

he could go to court, but

10:09

he was found to be the center of $4.14 million

10:12

worth of loans, gifts, benefits and

10:14

payments. Unbelievable. All different people. There

10:17

was way more. Tony Fitzgerald

10:19

who did this inquiry described the inquiry as

10:21

trying to empty the Brisbane River with a

10:23

rusty bucket, saying, I didn't even get touched

10:25

the sides of everything going on in this

10:28

show. The premier, Joe

10:30

Bialcupeterson, who oversaw all this, he

10:32

fronted the inquiry and in the

10:34

inquiry, he refused to resign for

10:36

ages. He eventually did. He

10:38

was voted out by his colleagues in the end. He

10:41

finally appeared and in his first two

10:43

hours of being cross-examined, he claimed memory

10:45

lapses 39 times. Like

10:49

I can't recall, I can't recall. He finally

10:51

admitted to take large cash donations from a

10:53

bunch of people. He did a whole

10:56

bunch of things. So you've got all this stuff going on. He

10:58

actually got sent to trial for

11:00

perjury for lying to this inquiry

11:04

and it was a mistrial. Two of

11:06

the jurors refused to find him guilty. It

11:08

was found out later that one of them, a

11:11

guy called Luke Shaw was a

11:13

member of the Friends of Joe movement. Oh

11:15

my God. So he was like a

11:17

Joe Bioga. To the very end. He

11:20

said when Flo Bialcupeterson,

11:22

Joe's wife, got

11:24

asked about, can you believe Luke Shaw

11:26

was on the jury? That seems a bit corrupt.

11:30

She said that she believed it showed that the

11:32

hand of God was working in John's case with

11:35

Luke Shaw being there at exactly the right

11:37

time. Like it was all just eating the

11:39

clairnages. I made a

11:41

good pumpkin scone. Was that right? She was famous

11:43

for. He was a peanut farmer from King of

11:46

Royce. I know they sold it. That's all. Joe,

11:48

you're in Joe's country. Simple folk. Oh yeah.

11:50

But really they were up to their next

11:52

in it. That's the backdrop.

11:55

This is all occurring in what's going to

11:57

happen. And you've got to understand that. That

12:00

all becomes very important. Yes. So

12:03

where we start with this and let's start

12:05

with the guy that basically put what is

12:07

going to become known as like the scam,

12:09

the fine cotton scandal. His

12:11

name is John Gillespie. His nickname is

12:13

the Phantom. That's

12:16

a good nickname. He's a

12:18

serial con man when we joined him in

12:20

the early 80s. Does he

12:22

already have form? He's got 200

12:24

convictions. Let's

12:27

consider that original. Yeah, so

12:29

he's been to jail, but

12:31

he's got check forging, forging

12:34

all sorts of documents. It's scamming people

12:36

out of money. He just does everything.

12:38

He's a total, basically sociopath. He has

12:40

no empathy for anyone. Right. If

12:42

I can take money off you, I'll take money off you. The

12:45

only thing he'd ever done that wasn't a

12:47

scam is he once attempted arm robbery. This

12:49

is back when arm robbery was big in

12:52

the 80s. It wasn't normal. He tried

12:54

it once. His arm robbery happened. He came out

12:56

of the bank with the money. He tripped and

12:59

the money all flew out of the bag and

13:01

the wind picked it up, but it was like

13:03

a hurricane of money and people came from

13:05

everywhere to grab the money. The

13:08

police find him lying on the ground after he tripped

13:10

trying to pick up all the money and

13:13

all the people have grabbed it and they only got

13:15

10% of the money back. The

13:17

public grabbed all of it, right? Even

13:19

the general public's corrupt. But they're

13:21

that time in Queensland. There's 982 where

13:23

we join him. He's in prison,

13:26

in Boggo Road Prison, which is...

13:28

Very famous jail. Yeah. How

13:31

would you describe that for someone who's not... It

13:33

wasn't flash. There was no mint on

13:35

the pillow. No. In fact, I

13:37

think they used to have to... I

13:39

hate to say it, but shit in

13:41

a can and... They did. There

13:44

were no toilets. You had a bucket and you had to mop

13:46

it out in the morning. It came in handy for you were

13:48

bronzing up. Oh, sure. Which

13:50

is a practice of criticism

13:52

sometimes. But it was rough,

13:55

most violent criminals, violent

13:57

guards, and it was... Barton

14:00

would be how I describe it. It was

14:02

a real estate agent. It was called Boggo

14:04

Road. It

14:07

was Boggo wasn't an abbreviation. It

14:09

was just actually called Boggo Road.

14:11

So Gillespie, he's in Boggo Road

14:14

in 1982 for using forge bank

14:16

checks to buy opals from Lightning

14:18

Ridge miners. So he's in

14:20

there every day, right? Geez, Jesus, he has a

14:22

crack. He's thinking about a scheme that he's been

14:24

trying, well, he's got time to think in prison.

14:27

He's thinking about a scheme that he's been trying

14:29

to pull off for some time. Are you

14:31

telling me this, the fine cock that was

14:33

hatched in Boggo Road? Yeah, Boggo Road. Yeah,

14:35

in Boggo Road prison. He's been thinking

14:38

about this scam, which is known as a ringer. A

14:40

ringer is when you swap a horse for

14:43

another one in a race. And usually what you've

14:45

got is you've got a very bad horse and

14:47

everyone thinks the bad horse is running

14:49

and you swap it for a horse that looks very

14:52

similar, but is really good. Don't do it the other

14:54

way around. Yeah, don't do it the other way around.

14:56

The odds become really good because everyone thinks it's a

14:58

terrible horse. Yeah. You put a lot of money on

15:00

it. You know, knowing I've actually got a horse in

15:02

the race that's 10 times better than I'm surprised this

15:04

doesn't have a more often. It's been tried the same

15:06

to me. Yeah, it's been tried time and time again.

15:09

Unless it's in Tetland, I'm not going to pen. So

15:12

he's been thinking about doing this now. He's

15:14

almost pulled off this scheme before. So

15:16

this to him is not a new scheme. This is

15:19

a scheme that he's tried before. The

15:22

thing about it is like all

15:24

these scams, betting scams, the

15:26

hard bit is getting the money to finance

15:28

it because you've got to buy horses and

15:31

then you've also got to put the money

15:33

on to bet, right? You need lots

15:35

of money to bet at the long odds. There's got

15:37

to be a small circle

15:39

of people who have to be in on it. In on

15:41

it, right. Yeah, it takes a bit. So that's the thing.

15:43

So he's tried to do it before. Now, when he tried

15:45

to do it before he approached

15:48

a criminal in Sydney called George

15:50

Freeman, who is famous. He

15:52

wore white suits. Yes. Sort of seen

15:55

as debonair in a way. Kings

15:57

cross. Kings cross. clubs,

16:00

prostitutes, he was involved in illegal gambling,

16:02

the drug trade. So he was the

16:04

Mr. He was

16:06

called the Pope of Sydney. He was

16:08

so powerful and he wore the white suits all

16:10

the time. He was linked to the Sydney drug

16:13

trade from the 70s and 80s. He

16:15

was named in several royal commissions in the

16:17

organized line, had links to the

16:19

Mafia in America, so New York and

16:22

all that Mafia. He

16:24

served several prison terms for theft between 951

16:26

and 68. But

16:29

then he just never went to jail again.

16:31

He was so clever compared to every other.

16:34

Always kept it at arm's length. So

16:37

Freeman's at home once and Gillespie gets

16:40

a meeting with him. Gillespie has this

16:42

massive comment and says, I

16:44

want to swap a horse for another horse. I

16:46

want to do this. And Freeman is

16:48

so connected. He's connected to Roger

16:50

Rogerson, who's the corrupt New South Wales cop

16:53

who passed away fairly recently. He was close

16:55

to Nettie Smith. He was sort of a

16:57

violent criminal and Chris Flannery, Mr. Rent-A-Kill, and

16:59

some of these names will come up in

17:01

this scam. Gillespie goes to him

17:04

and says, I need this money. Would

17:06

you be interested in being the money

17:09

behind this? I'll execute

17:11

the scam. I'll get my cut,

17:13

but you'll make money. Now, Freeman's so

17:15

smart. He says a bloke like, let's see, coming

17:17

a mile off. And he

17:19

knows this guy gets caught a

17:21

lot. He's

17:25

seen the rap show. He knows.

17:27

He's like, he declines

17:29

and he says, look, all the best with that.

17:32

But I won't be your Mr. Big behind

17:34

it. Right. But he

17:36

files Gillespie's name away. He's

17:39

got a steel trap behind. He goes, I'll

17:41

remember you. Right. I'm not going to invest

17:43

in you, but I remember you. Now,

17:46

this is where the mystery of fine cotton

17:48

starts. A lot of people don't realize that

17:50

fine cotton has still got a bit

17:52

of a mystery going on. Gillespie manages to

17:54

find and this isn't the fine cotton scam. This is

17:56

when he's early trying to get a ring it up.

18:00

Someone is giving Gillespie the money. A

18:03

horse might be $20,000, right? Gillespie

18:05

is like a low level con

18:07

man. Yeah. You need a

18:09

backer. You need a backer. So we

18:11

know that it's almost certain Gillespie had a

18:14

backer, but to this day, we

18:16

don't really know who this is. Well, there's people that

18:18

will claim it and we'll get into who the people,

18:21

people say it isn't that, but they're all conmen and

18:23

criminals. So it's hard to know. And I know that

18:25

people out there do know who it was. Oh, this

18:27

is... And one day we might know and we're going

18:30

to get into who it could be and people can

18:32

then draw their own. Are we allowed to do it?

18:34

No, I'm not going to say who it is because

18:36

I don't know who it is. And so we're not

18:39

the kids in the way. But can we have a

18:41

shortlist? Well, we'll get into this. This will unfold and

18:43

you'll start to, you know, he

18:45

gets the money for this first one. And

18:47

this is before he's in jail and he

18:50

replaces a horse called Manasong with another

18:52

horse that's better called Apprentice Air. And

18:55

the scheme's ready to go. He's got the money. He's

18:57

got the horse. He's got a bad horse with his

18:59

Manasong and he's got this good horse that's Apparently and

19:02

they look very similar. Right. And

19:05

word gets out that this fixes

19:07

it. So the odds for

19:09

Manasong, which wasn't actually running, but the

19:11

horse that was there, it goes from

19:13

66 to one to five to

19:15

ten. OK, well, there's

19:17

a... Word got out, the ring is on, right?

19:21

Now, the thing is, he actually pulls this

19:23

scam off. No one ever

19:25

catches this as originally in that

19:27

he gets it to race. No one picks it

19:29

up. It's the race happens, right? The

19:31

problem is, Apparent Air, that's the

19:33

ring, or the one he swapped in the good horse,

19:36

goes so badly it comes eight. This

19:38

is a weird... Which means you don't make any money.

19:41

The whole idea is the ringer has to win. And

19:43

this is the... At long odds. ...one reason of racing.

19:45

That you're not guaranteed. Not guaranteed. Just because the horse

19:47

is better. But there's a million things. He

19:49

could get bitten by a snake halfway

19:52

up the straight. That's right. There's just

19:54

no guarantee. This is the problem, having

19:56

done everything and organised everything. Yeah. When

19:59

they go... goes racing, you

20:01

are now powerless. You're now powerless. That's right.

20:03

The idea is you've got such a good

20:06

horse that should be several grades ahead of

20:08

wind, but this, so he stuffs this up.

20:10

It's red ice! Yeah, it doesn't need, so

20:12

it's not even like... You're not at next

20:14

start. Yeah. Everyone

20:16

loses their money. All the people have bet

20:18

on it, everything. That's been trouble for me. Now

20:21

the inquiry finds, no one wants to really

20:23

find everyone because it's Queensland, it's corrupt. But

20:26

Manasong's trainer has warned off racetracks for

20:28

life. They say the term warned off, it

20:31

means you're basically banned from racing by the

20:33

racing authorities. You're not allowed on course.

20:35

Yeah. The trainer has warned off racetrack

20:37

for life. Gillespie sneaks away,

20:39

doesn't get caught. So

20:41

he's like, I was so close to pulling this scam

20:43

off and I just got the

20:46

wrong one. Yeah, K-Mate. So he

20:48

tries again. He buys another

20:50

horse called Captain Cadet and it had been

20:52

a good race horse but it's past it.

20:54

And the idea is he's got to find

20:56

a better horse. It looks like Captain Cadet.

20:58

Yeah. And at this point Gillespie

21:01

is calling himself John Chandler. We'll

21:03

just call him Gillespie all the way through but he changes

21:05

his name like a bit. Gillespie's

21:08

charmed this woman called Wendy Smith who'd been

21:10

an amateur jockey and a hobby trainer and

21:12

she trains a few horses at Coffs Harbour

21:14

and she is a clean skin. She's not

21:16

dodgy. But he has hooked

21:19

up with her and charmed it. And

21:21

she just loves horses and she thinks Gillespie's on the

21:23

level. And he shows up and says,

21:26

I've got this horse Captain Cadet. I paid 20 grand

21:28

for it. Could you train it? And

21:31

she thinks, this is

21:33

all my dreams come true. Like a

21:35

big horse and this is great. So

21:38

he drops it off to her. But it's

21:40

crazy that he's got money to buy these horses,

21:42

right? That someone's behind this. Now

21:44

at this point Gillespie gets done for the forged

21:47

checks and the opal buying. So

21:49

he's suddenly in jail. He's got Captain Cadet

21:51

at Wendy's farm. The original Captain Cadet. The

21:53

original. He hasn't bought a ringer at this

21:55

stage. And he's sitting there. He's

21:57

Got this scheme on his mind. And He mates.

22:00

Your line of a jockey. he's in jail.

22:02

A royal where they all should be easier

22:04

to pat. Hard time. I. Am

22:07

pet tell the mall they sit in

22:09

chatting and all. This is my brother

22:11

Hayden hide and hi timer. Is.

22:13

A sign or and Cops Harbor and

22:15

blessed be things like could come in

22:17

very handy is Wendy soda none a

22:19

proper try in a bitchy can try

22:21

bits. This guy's got his China's license.

22:23

Is this guy hide in high time

22:25

ratings. A mall at to meet

22:27

his hadn't had time when I get adage

22:30

Iraq so far my gillespie get daddy nearly

22:32

nineteen eighty four and he discovers the Captain

22:34

Kidd it. By this point his. Legs.

22:36

In our no longer up to racing show

22:38

he has never things they decide to gotta

22:41

start again from scratch. He

22:43

guys are mates haydn hard time and a heightened

22:45

had time at his from. New. Zealand

22:47

and he'd moved over. He'd been in

22:49

jail in You Zoom for stealing chainsaws.

22:54

How is it that often? threat

22:56

of He'd been very attractive to

22:58

the Gold Case because he thought

23:00

it was glamorous. moved diver. But.

23:03

By the time nearly eighty does ended up

23:05

finding hoses that like Costs harbor New South

23:07

Wales mainly for bush rice's so is Nine

23:09

is a. Dates and enough bushy

23:11

trying a. Big. Drinker

23:14

loved be a. Very.

23:16

Unhealthy smoking for eating badly. all that sorta

23:18

stuff. a lock The guy I would call

23:20

him as. A a simple man.

23:24

Likes. The A and I like the Farm

23:27

likes to drink buy some food. He's got

23:29

a bit of knowledge of getting a long

23:31

shot up. Now. Funny does that by

23:33

injecting it with. Amphetamines, For

23:37

your point out, this practice is not

23:39

uncommon. From nine nine minutes is like

23:41

secret trait. So sorry Gillespie mates him

23:44

says i met your brother pet in

23:46

jail pets now out they all make

23:48

together. As he drinks he says. I.

23:51

Wanted a this game. Of.

23:54

A ringer he hints

23:56

Gillespie at. Big. Money.

23:58

Then Sydney's sending the skin. So I've

24:00

got big people behind. Hetana

24:03

is in. It didn't take

24:05

long though. Hetana. Gillespie-Ossay

24:08

says, this has been Queensland, I've also got the police in

24:10

on it. And I've also got

24:12

racing stewards in on it as well. Yes,

24:15

alright. That's important. And

24:18

Gillespie-Ossay says I've got a printer who can

24:20

print fake documents that look exact.

24:22

So I can get racing certificates done

24:24

on ownership papers that will pass any

24:26

check. That's correct. He

24:29

does have this connection. Yes. Did

24:32

he have the police in on it? Did he have the

24:34

stewards on it at this time or does he? We're

24:36

going to get into the milking world with Gillespie. He's

24:39

an absolute common. You can never believe what he says.

24:42

But to Hetana, this sounds like, well,

24:44

it's all sawn up. The cops are in on it,

24:46

which is very believable in Queensland. The stewards are in

24:48

on it. Everyone's in on it. What

24:51

I'm going to do is train this and I get a good

24:53

payday. So he's in. So

24:55

the following month Gillespie finds a horse he thinks

24:57

is a good horse and it's a sprinter named

24:59

Dashing Solitaire and he buys it for 10K. Now

25:03

this is going to be the horse he

25:05

uses as the ringer. So he actually buys

25:07

the ringer. The 10,000 horse is the good

25:09

horse. The good horse. Because you've got to

25:11

remember they're targeting. The rural. The rural or

25:13

low level, not good racers. They're

25:16

not targeting the Melbourne couple. I wouldn't

25:18

mind maybe spending a bit more on the ringer. Well,

25:20

it's a much easier. So it is one. It's

25:23

a chocolate brown five-year-old. It's one. Two

25:25

group, two wins in Sydney and Melbourne.

25:27

So it's not a great race horse. It's not.

25:30

It's not bad. He has

25:32

the horse sent to Wendy Smith Stables in

25:34

Coff Harbor. So he's got the horse. Yeah. Got

25:37

that there. She hadn't seen him for ages

25:39

when he shows up with his horse, Wendy. And

25:42

she's a bit annoyed. She doesn't know he's been in jail and that's

25:44

why she hasn't seen him. Okay. He's

25:46

also changed his name from John Chandler to John

25:48

Gillespie at this stage, which is his original name.

25:51

So they'd been a bit of a romantic element to their relationship.

25:53

So she's genuinely me. Of

25:56

course she's pissed down. Where have you been? Yeah. So

25:59

she says, where have you been? The best dance I followed.

26:01

You know a damn, right? I'll. Be

26:04

shot. Is I giles the already said. He.

26:07

Said he'd been working undercover for

26:09

the Cleveland Police. Hence

26:11

the fight. Maven Bagel I say

26:13

didn't thousand borrowed Roger well idealist

26:16

be and he says I wanted

26:18

it kept Captain Kidd it's obviously.

26:21

Ny good suspended he is a new was

26:23

testing Solitaire seekers let's break two horses. Clinton

26:25

on our love horses A says you need

26:28

to get ready to rice at Able Farm

26:30

which is in Brisbane his famous racetrack in

26:32

the sky in August. In I fall into

26:34

the rice it's that's where we're targeting the

26:37

up and say so gripe see as a

26:39

night as a ringing or not a horse

26:41

or anything say is nice but she's got

26:43

this one Host testing solitaire, said affairs bits

26:46

in place. He then needs to go and

26:48

find a bad horse. That. They going

26:50

to stop Dashing Solitaire for that looks

26:52

like dashing solitaire. It site two weeks

26:55

light off these bought. Dashing! Solitaire.

26:57

He sums across his horse

26:59

that looks almost identical. The

27:01

dashing Solitaire. It's like uncanny.

27:04

And. It's I'm by this elderly couple. Who

27:07

is selling at the hoses? Eight years old. Got.

27:09

Side Mocking same color, everything. He

27:12

did rice the little bit and country mates

27:14

as net was it it really do and I

27:16

his old the be retired dame and i

27:18

more sure. It's. Also

27:20

been born the same league. As.

27:22

Dashing food. Hey, So it's

27:24

got one of the three max every rifles

27:26

has is the sign so in cursory glance

27:28

it looks very simulation markings on it gives

27:30

him so he he says to sell the

27:33

couple I love this horse. I'm buying a

27:35

house for my wife just want have in

27:37

the family. And

27:39

she would just love these calls. Yep, And.

27:42

Off he two thousand dollars. although I can't believe

27:44

that lock because horses costs a fortune to caped.

27:46

So yeah, the garage and I can't believe of

27:49

i don't think it's a moist two thousand dollars

27:51

a day like for assault. And

27:53

I say yes. And so he's got

27:55

right. I've got the horse that's gonna

27:57

be the public's one that him. And

27:59

six. racing. Yes. Dashing solitaire will

28:02

be a ring in four. He

28:04

asks what's the name of the horse and they

28:06

say fine cotton and he

28:09

says my wife's gonna love this. He

28:11

doesn't even have a wife right? Fine

28:13

cotton. So

28:16

now he's got fine cotton which is the

28:18

bad horse and he's got dashing solitaire which

28:21

is the one that's going to be swapped

28:23

and they look identical. When you say identical

28:25

what are we talking here? They're both sort

28:27

of a brown color. They're both brown gilding

28:29

similar size white marks on their hind legs

28:31

and around sort of their ankles and

28:34

everyone's shocked. If you put them there together

28:36

it's hard to tell. So the plan is

28:38

working beautifully. He drops fine

28:41

cotton off to Haitana

28:44

and says get this horse ready to

28:46

race because this is now they're in

28:48

the next phase. So Haitana's got fine

28:50

cotton. And Wendy Smith has got dashing

28:54

solitaire. Which we'll be racing.

28:56

Racing. Yeah and they only need to

28:58

race it get it ready for the race at Eagle Farm

29:00

in August which is the one they're going to target to

29:02

do the swap. But before that they

29:05

want to make sure that fine cotton is

29:08

known in Queensland and

29:10

put so they start entering it in races.

29:12

Right. People get comfortable with the idea. Hewards

29:14

get to know it. Punters get to know

29:16

it. Bookies get to know it. Everyone knows

29:18

that this is horse fine cotton at races

29:20

and it's not great. And they get to

29:22

know that it's a rubbish. It's

29:26

the important bit. That's the important bit.

29:28

You don't you want everyone to think

29:30

these horses too. These horses look like

29:32

chainsmokes. Yeah. Yeah. It is no good.

29:34

It's got a wheezy. It's

29:37

got an odd cough. It's got a pot belly. It's

29:40

not up to it. So Haitana gets

29:43

the horse in a racing shape but

29:45

not you know and they start racing

29:47

around Queensland. It does terribly. It's eight

29:50

years old. It's not very good.

29:52

It turns nine as they're racing

29:54

around Queensland. Most horses aren't. Haitana

29:56

actually loves horses. He's actually at

29:58

his heart despite being a bit

30:00

dodgy in many ways actually does care for the

30:03

horse. And him and G year

30:28

old and they're doing this, it has six

30:30

starts in 18 days. And

30:32

what's it starting? Oh, it's

30:34

getting, like getting out there and went into like 20 to

30:36

one. It's getting like longer and longer

30:38

all the time. And these

30:41

are in bad races. It's at 20 or one,

30:43

right? These are in when no other horse is

30:45

good, either. Right. In his final race before they

30:47

attempt to do the swap at

30:50

Doomben, on a Wednesday meeting on the

30:52

eighth of August, Rocquette for he

30:54

starts at 20 to one, he runs 10th in a

30:56

field of 12. Right. So

30:59

it's all set up, right? It's all like,

31:01

they've got the good horse, fine cotton looks

31:03

terrible and stinks. Everyone knows that fine cotton

31:05

is a terrible race horse. The

31:08

next race is going to be this one at Eagle

31:10

farm in August. No one's tipping fine. No one is

31:12

going to bet the odds are going to be long

31:14

on the day. So around

31:16

this time, Haitana becomes aware that

31:18

there's other people involved in

31:20

this scam on a, not

31:22

the Mr Biggs behind it, but on

31:24

a local level or helping moving horses

31:27

around and all this stuff. A man

31:29

named Robert North, who is a businessman,

31:31

he was more a socialite. He would

31:33

have been an Instagram guy now. He's

31:36

a bit of a dandy, bit of like

31:38

family, quite well-known, very well-off in between in

31:41

Britain. What's his role? What's he bringing to

31:43

the table? He's just helping with logistics, moving

31:45

things around, talking to people, all that stuff,

31:47

another man called John Dixon, who's a salesman,

31:50

is also involved very much just like

31:52

fetching things, doing things and all that sort of

31:54

stuff. But this makes Haitana a bit nervous because

31:56

you didn't know that these other people even involved.

31:58

This is the problem. So

32:01

the race day approaches and Gillespie shows up

32:03

at Wendy's and says, I need to take

32:05

dashing solitaire. And she's like,

32:07

well, why are you taking him away from me?

32:09

Like we've got the race and he doesn't care.

32:12

Even though they've been romantically linked. He's just like,

32:14

it was over. I'm taking the horse. See you

32:16

later. And just leaves her standing there. Very

32:19

upset. Very not happy. He

32:21

drops the horse at Haitana's place. So now

32:23

you've got for the first time dashing solitaire

32:25

and fine clotiner together. And

32:27

everyone is shocked at how similar they

32:30

are. The confidence of the

32:32

group is high. They're

32:34

all going, this

32:36

cannot not work. We've got

32:38

everyone in on it that we

32:40

need everyone on it. And we've got

32:42

two identical horses. We've said it beautifully.

32:44

Dashing solitaire for the race they're targeting

32:46

is like three or four grades above.

32:48

It is like can't not win at

32:51

Eagle Farm. This is where it all

32:53

starts to go a bit tear-shaped. All

32:57

right, here we go. So

33:00

the ringings plan for August 11, 1984,

33:03

two days out from the races, they're all ready to

33:05

go. And at this point,

33:07

it's very easy. It's just show up with dashing

33:09

solitaire on the day instead of fine cotton. Race

33:12

it. That's all they have to do. There's nothing.

33:15

And we're done. We're

33:17

done. But two days

33:19

before the race, a kangaroo jumps into

33:22

dashing solitaire's paddock and spooks

33:24

it and it runs into

33:26

a barbed wire fence and injures its legs

33:28

quite badly. So

33:30

they all gather and Haitana

33:33

says, it's been an incident come around and they

33:35

all come around and says, this horse

33:37

can't run a race. And this is the

33:39

one they need to run and win. It can't

33:41

run. It's too injured. It's

33:44

bleeding. Any steward's going to look at it

33:46

and go, you can't race this horse. Even

33:48

if they think it's fine cotton, they're not

33:50

going to let it race. So clearly you

33:52

call it off at this stage and you

33:54

come back at a later date and reset.

33:56

Yeah, that would be what you do. Haitan

34:01

says it's time to pull the plug on this whole

34:03

thing. Gillespie steps up

34:06

and says you

34:09

can't pull the pin. Now

34:11

the thing here is, and this is

34:13

the key bit, whenever I read most

34:15

fine cotton stories, not all but most,

34:19

what's to follow is a

34:21

Coen Brothers-esque bumbling fools

34:24

who didn't know when to give up story. And

34:26

I'm sure you've heard that story anytime. But

34:29

it's actually a way more interesting

34:32

story. I've always wondered when I've looked at

34:34

this story a few times before, why did

34:36

they not at this point say no? And

34:38

why for what's going

34:41

to happen in foreshadowing what's going to happen

34:44

at multiple points? Surely you

34:46

would just say abort, abort,

34:48

this isn't going to work. Now

34:52

Gillespie tells them that they can't

34:54

because the people backing this are

34:56

serious people. Like failure

34:58

is not an option. They have put

35:00

in tens of thousands of dollars probably

35:03

into Gillespie's previous failed attempts to pay.

35:05

And they want their money. And

35:09

he says to them, and

35:12

remember Gillespie is a total con man. So I would suggest

35:14

we don't take this with a grain of salt. This is

35:16

what he tells them. He says

35:18

the guy backing this scheme is Mick Sayers.

35:21

Now Mick Sayers is a serious criminal from

35:23

Melbourne who'd regulated to Sydney. Sayers

35:26

was known for race

35:28

rigging, illegal betting and drug selling.

35:32

And he was also a thief, a

35:34

safe cracker. He's a good egg. And

35:36

he'd become a contract killer with two

35:38

confirmed hits. Okay. That's enough to

35:40

frighten anyone, right? If he's the guy backing

35:42

it. And so Gillespie

35:44

says Sayers is also very

35:47

close friends with

35:49

Chris Flannery. Now Mr. Rentakil,

35:51

if you were in Australia, you know, he's

35:53

like probably the most famous hit man in

35:55

Australian history. He ends up

35:57

missing. No one to this day, people

35:59

like. It was either corrupt police or the

36:01

crib like there was such a long list of people

36:03

who wanted him dead But he was known as being

36:06

not only a hitman but being

36:08

bonkers He used to eat his party

36:10

trick was he would in a fight He would bite

36:13

a beer pot a glass and

36:15

bite it to a crack. So his mouth

36:17

was bleeding Yeah, just to intimidate people right

36:19

so a true they would just wield a

36:21

weapon in a pub Yeah, it was he'd

36:24

shoot anyone at a someone annoyed him So

36:27

he says we got mix I was

36:29

backing this and his mates with Chris Flannery We need

36:31

to figure out how to make this work Yeah,

36:34

this is a bit of a darker tail than this

36:36

gets told over if it's that's true. It's Wow,

36:40

and if it's not true, it's Gillespie

36:42

pushing of more guys We try to

36:44

make them feel it make them feel

36:46

it's true They could just be Gillespie's

36:48

got so much money at stake on

36:50

this. Yeah, or owes it to mix

36:52

sayers That's the thing like

36:54

who owes all money and all that's all shadows

36:56

and lines me one pick this more but so

36:59

this threat makes the gang feel like We

37:03

need a solution here But

37:06

what can we do this horses injured? But

37:08

the reason they are so terrified is

37:10

there's one man in the back of their mind after

37:12

he tells them this and that's a man Called George

37:15

Brown Now George Brown

37:17

was a small-time trainer out of Wollongong Everyone

37:20

says he was a bit of a nobody bit

37:22

financially strapped And he was just that he

37:24

was one of those trainers that wasn't famous

37:26

lived on the edge of financial stability But

37:29

all accounts a fairly decent guy, right? He

37:33

was pressured by Sydney criminals to swap

37:35

one of his horses called Risley

37:37

at a race meeting in Dunban in

37:39

Brisbane on March 31st 984

37:43

so only like a few months earlier The

37:45

theory goes that in second thoughts at the

37:47

last minute that he thought they'd get caught

37:50

and he did not make the switch The

37:52

bad horse runs runs and doesn't and doesn't

37:54

do well and it loses all the money

37:56

for the backers Wow,

37:59

he's got some balls On April

38:01

2nd, 1994, his body is

38:03

found, his only 38th time was

38:05

found inside a burnout ford falcon

38:07

in the bush, north of Wollongong.

38:09

He died from head injuries inflicted prior

38:11

to the sedan being set on fire.

38:14

His legs were broken, his arm was

38:16

in backwards, he'd been force fed alcohol,

38:18

so he'd been tortured and everything beforehand.

38:21

That's occurred when the body is found,

38:23

it's just four months before, while these

38:25

guys are talking, it's less than four

38:27

months earlier. They understand Gillespie's nervousness? They

38:29

are all aware of this case. They

38:32

know that this guy refused to go through with

38:35

the ring in and was

38:37

tortured and then killed in a

38:39

terribly violent way. So they are

38:42

terrified. So rather than being a bunch

38:44

of helpless amateurs, which they are, they're

38:47

also scared and rightly so.

38:52

So they feel like Gillespie's just stitched

38:54

them up. He's burnt their boats, they

38:58

can't go back, they are stuck here.

39:01

So they have to figure out what to do. Now

39:04

they keep talking, Dashing Solitude, they say, well, Dashing

39:06

Solitude can't race, so we can't do that. So

39:09

they push the race back to the 18th of August, 1984. So

39:13

they were doing the race on the 11th. So

39:15

they gave themselves one week. Itana

39:19

says, he says, why don't I just get

39:21

fine cotton to actually run, but

39:23

I'll dose it up with amphetamine because

39:26

I've done it before and got long shots to win that

39:28

way. So why don't we go that way? Gillespie

39:31

thinks this is too risky. Like

39:33

it could work, but they need a

39:36

guarantee. So

39:39

Gospy says, let's just get another horse that looks

39:41

like fine cotton. And they

39:43

say, okay, he says, I've got one in

39:45

mind. It's called bold personality. It's

39:47

on sale. I can go get

39:49

the horse. We'll swap that fine

39:52

cotton. So it will be the new

39:54

ring. It's a good horse. It's a

39:56

good horse. It's stabled down in

39:58

New South Wales. by a well-regard

40:00

trainer who had no involvement with this.

40:03

He was selling it, Bill Nown. He's

40:05

put it up for sale. So all he is

40:08

aware of is these people want to buy a

40:10

horse. He's selling it, fine. That's his involvement, right?

40:13

The one problem that Gillespie doesn't necessarily

40:16

tell the group is bold personalities, the

40:18

wrong color and the wrong market. Ha

40:20

ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha

40:22

ha ha. It doesn't look anything

40:24

like it. So the

40:27

big thing about a ringer is they need

40:29

to look like each other. You're passing one.

40:31

That's the whole point. You don't turn up

40:33

with two blokes in a pantomime horse costume

40:35

and go, have a look at it. Fine

40:37

cotton. Even if the stewards and

40:40

the police are all in on it, you've got

40:42

to have the racing journalists and the crowd to

40:44

be unaware, right? You know? You don't take one

40:46

person to go, that's not the horse. It's like

40:48

us doing this live show we're going to do.

40:51

You get two people from Japan to front

40:53

up and pretend to be us. People are going

40:55

to go, I don't think that's Mick Malloy in

40:57

the dinosaur. Kind of like you need

40:59

to, if I was to host an episode

41:01

of MasterChef, I'd look a bit like Matt Preston.

41:04

Yeah, but people are going to go. Not

41:07

enough. I can't do a Richard Clapton

41:09

concert. Yeah. I can go close.

41:13

So ball business are on color on

41:15

markings. It's a year younger, so none

41:17

of the brands are the same at

41:19

all as fine cotton's on its body.

41:21

Alarm bells are ringing. They

41:24

decide, though, it's just too late to be picky. They're

41:26

going to have to sort this out some other way.

41:28

So Gillespie assures the group that officials and

41:30

the police are all phoned up, so there's still no

41:32

need to worry because no one's going to check. They're

41:35

all a bit like, not sure

41:37

about this. They arranged to

41:39

buy the horse for $20,000, and

41:43

the plans to race the horse on

41:45

Saturday before the check clears on Monday.

41:48

So they're even scabbing. But the idea then

41:50

is they'll have the money then for the

41:53

winnings. But they figure that. This has

41:55

been put together on the run, mate. It's

41:57

starting to come apart. So they

41:59

need to go. to get bold personality to Queensland

42:02

for Stan New South Wales they need to get it out. They

42:05

think who can do it and Gillespie

42:07

knows someone called Tommy Deluzio who's an

42:10

electrical engineer but it has no

42:12

knowledge of horses. Tommy sounds like

42:14

he knows what he's doing. He says Tommy, rings

42:16

him says Tommy I need you to go

42:19

pick up this horse and drive it up that's it will pay

42:21

you that's the only job he needed. Tommy's

42:23

like great he thinks Gillespie's a Mr.

42:26

Big businessman and thinks this could

42:28

lead to more opportunities he doesn't want to

42:30

disappoint Gillespie. So he says sure

42:32

no problem and goes to the suit like

42:34

you eat because he's got a big you with

42:36

the control horse trailer and

42:39

he says sure do. Yeah, he says right.

42:41

We'll go hire a horse flight touch

42:44

to you pick up this horse and the check over

42:46

bring it up to us easy job. Deluzio

42:49

Tommy doesn't want to upset Gillespie so he

42:51

doesn't tell him that the youth is actually

42:53

in the mechanics and doesn't work. All

42:57

he's got is a yellow Toyota Corolla

42:59

E30 a tiny car. He's

43:04

going to pull the float up with

43:06

a horse in there. He's going to

43:09

pull with a full horse and trailer

43:11

behind this car. He

43:13

looks at it and goes it's got a tow bar though so we should

43:16

be fine. But

43:20

anyway he gets it goes down and

43:23

he meets the owner of this horse

43:25

Bill Nauman says here's the check for

43:27

20k picking up the horse Bill

43:30

Nauman looks at it and says I don't know

43:32

if that's a great car to tow a horse

43:34

or trailer. So you might

43:36

struggle. He lies

43:38

Tommy and says I'm swapping

43:41

it in town for a proper car. This is

43:43

I was on my way. It's just yeah. So

43:46

he takes the horse up the minute he pulls

43:48

out he can feel the weight like

43:51

he was struggling with the trailer but now there's

43:53

a full horse in there. It's struggling. He knows

43:55

no problem. And in the

43:57

back bulb, he's not happy. Because

44:00

it's something with his man, it's never met in

44:02

Australia. And the guy that was there- Because the

44:04

horse is dirty though. Tommy doesn't know any matter

44:06

horses. So he goes and looks at the horse

44:08

and one's what to do. He's like- Tommy doesn't

44:10

know anything about horses. So he's like, what can

44:12

I do? He sees that there's a horse blanket

44:14

in the float. He puts

44:16

that over it and that calms old personality

44:18

down. And then Tommy thinks, oh, I'm

44:21

OK. Horse whisperer. Tommy?

44:23

Yeah, he's basically Robert Redford in that

44:25

movie. The only problem now is

44:28

and what Tommy hasn't thought through. Is they're about

44:30

to drive for hours and hours in the heat

44:32

of a Queensland day in a metal box. And

44:34

now the horse has a blanket and it's off

44:36

of it. And

44:39

it's a winter coat. Winter blanket. And

44:42

it's attached to the back of a Toyota Corolla. So

44:44

it's a long trip. Which isn't going to enjoy the

44:46

heat either, I imagine. No. So the

44:48

horse quickly in the back starts to overheat.

44:51

The trip takes forever. As

44:53

every 50 Ks, the radiator

44:55

explodes and steam comes out.

44:58

And Tommy has to pull over, wait for it

45:01

to cool down, then pull liters of water into

45:03

it. Put a blanket on the bottom. Put another

45:05

blanket over it and then takes

45:07

off again. Right. I think he's like four

45:10

hours late to them when they think he's

45:12

meant to get there. When

45:14

they finally arrived, the horse is badly

45:16

dehydrated on the verge of collapse. It's

45:19

not good. And the

45:21

horse needs a vet to perform what they

45:24

call a saline drench, which is where you

45:26

get a tube. You put it down the

45:28

horse's nose straight into their stomach and just

45:30

pump saline or water in to rehydrate it

45:33

really fast. You'd be surprised. I

45:35

mean, this is a delicate procedure. I want to go

45:37

to the car. You're doing right. They're

45:40

all furious at Tommy because they can see

45:42

the car. Like where they'll see you. You

45:46

idiot. What have you done to all the cash

45:48

care? Haitan says, I can do

45:50

the saline drench. I've done it before. Now you're

45:52

not really meant to if you're not a vet.

45:54

It's frowned upon. They can't really go to a

45:57

vet. They're in the middle of a criminal conspiracy.

46:01

So he gets a bit

46:03

of garden hose, puts it

46:05

down the horse's nose, the horse is not happy

46:07

but manages to do that, pumps it

46:10

something full of water but

46:12

then as he's pulling the garden hose out,

46:15

the horse gets a blood vessel burst in its

46:17

nose and is bleeding a lot from its mouth

46:19

and nose. Which is not good. Bad for race

46:21

horses. If you've bled in the last

46:23

month you can't race a horse. And

46:27

the horse is not happy. Haitana decides the

46:29

best thing to do is like when you've got

46:31

a nosebleed, you tilt your head back, you tilt

46:33

your head up and back. So

46:35

he ties the head, the rafter, the

46:38

tilted back. And

46:41

the bleeding does stop. This horse is traumatised. And

46:43

the water that this horse has got has

46:46

made it a lot better in terms

46:48

of the dehydrations no longer

46:50

an issue. But

46:52

it's not a happy horse. No, I can

46:54

understand that. It has been picked up,

46:57

driven in this hot box, dehydrated,

46:59

had a hose put down its nose. It's currently

47:02

got two wads of tissues up it's not from.

47:04

It's tied to the rafters so it's head tilt

47:06

back and it's

47:08

not happy. But stop bleeding so

47:10

its health is no longer in

47:12

dire straits. The

47:15

next bit though is they need

47:17

to turn their mind to the

47:19

fact it looks nothing like fine

47:21

cotton. And

47:23

the race is the next day. This

47:27

is the most half-assed, I'm

47:29

aware that it's tough. Call

47:32

it off guys. Let's reset, regroup. They've got

47:34

a horse that's gone through hell. Had

47:37

the worst probably day of its life. It's

47:39

getting into like six, seven o'clock. And let's not

47:41

forget it looks nothing like. And it looks nothing

47:43

like it. So they now are all drinking heavily

47:46

and smoking. I can't do it. They just drink

47:48

in stubby after stubby and now the horse has

47:50

calmed down a bit and is going

47:52

to be okay. Although not

47:54

happy. They start to say what are we going to

47:57

do? So fine cotton the

47:59

brown gilding has. white magnets behind legs.

48:01

Bold personalities, a bay gelding with

48:03

no marking thoughts. Gillespie,

48:06

while they're all standing there, says, I've got

48:08

the perfect solution. They're

48:10

like, what's that? We will

48:13

dye the horse the right

48:15

color. What

48:20

could go wrong? We're going to

48:22

paint a horse? We're going

48:24

to dye this horse the right color. The

48:27

men are like, is this even possible? Gillespie

48:30

is a con man for a reason. Con

48:32

man's short for confidence man, and he has

48:34

all the confidence in the world, right? He

48:37

says, you guys look after the horse because you've

48:39

been doing a great job so far. You look

48:42

after the horse. I'm going into town. I'll see

48:44

you in a few hours. He takes off. He

48:46

goes in and finds a chemist. He

48:49

approaches a woman working there

48:51

and goes, where's your hair

48:54

dye fixer? He

48:57

says, me and my wife are going

48:59

on a long trip and she sent me down here to

49:01

get as much of her hair dye as

49:05

is possible. She says,

49:07

okay, it's over here.

49:11

Do you know

49:16

what color you need? He

49:18

says, I'll know it when I see it.

49:22

They go to the section and he

49:24

guesses what color to get based off

49:26

the photos of the women's hair dye

49:28

products. The brand he buys

49:30

is Claryole and he buys all the

49:33

boxes. They only have about six boxes.

49:36

Yeah, of that color, he buys like six

49:38

boxes, everything they've got and

49:41

brings it up to the counter. The women says, that's

49:43

a lot. I can

49:45

see what I usually buy six boxes.

49:47

Remember his wife's going on a long

49:49

trip. Long trip, that's his cover. He

49:53

then proceeds to repeat this at about

49:55

five other chemists. Normally it's for Sudafed

49:57

or something. You go shopping at chemists.

50:00

Yeah, exactly strange guy wandering around

50:02

by the Clariel. I think it's

50:04

like Ferrile Brown number four in

50:06

a particular car. Okay So

50:09

you get back to the house and the

50:11

horse is much improved now No I've got

50:13

a head tied to the rafters and all

50:15

this sort of stuff they get buckets and

50:18

gloves and a hose And

50:20

they start to wet the horse down the

50:22

horses came So I was

50:24

just going what's next like these and

50:27

they begin to dye it so they've got gloves

50:29

buckets They're making up the dye in the buckets

50:31

and then they're dyeing a horse that is going

50:33

to be raced the next day Yeah, they're drinking

50:35

while they all do this. It's a good thing

50:37

to do though. Yeah Now

50:39

it turned out takes a really long time

50:42

to dye a horse. We probably

50:44

didn't know this No, I

50:46

didn't know. I was unaware. I don't think anyone did

50:48

because I don't think anyone had ever done it But

50:52

by the end of the night they've dyed it with

50:54

this brown Human hair

50:56

dye it's been difficult

50:58

day. They've drunk a lot. Their nerves are high.

51:01

The race is the next day So

51:03

we might wrap it up here before part

51:06

two But we're just saying the eve of

51:08

the most infamous day of Australian racing you've

51:10

got to leave us hanging Well,

51:12

we might just say to leave

51:15

it on the cliffhanger They

51:17

all wake up the next morning have a

51:19

few breakfast beers And

51:22

they say let's go out and look at the horse

51:25

and check the dye job Which we finish in

51:27

the wee hours of the morning and now it's

51:29

early in the morning It's like seven in the

51:31

light. They're up early because they go the race

51:34

and it's race day that day and

51:36

they wander out and The

51:38

horse is a different color like the

51:41

dyes worked. It's changed the color of

51:43

the test The only problem

51:45

is it's now bright red now

51:47

when I say bright red Some

51:50

of them describe it as the color of a stop sign

51:56

And others describe it as the color

51:58

of a fire in This

52:02

is human hair dye. It's never been tested on

52:04

working how it dyes a horse and how it's

52:06

going to interact. They have no knowledge of how

52:08

much you're meant to use or any of this.

52:12

So now these sleep deprived

52:14

drunk stress blokes are

52:16

standing around looking at a bright red horse

52:21

and thinking we've got to get

52:23

this to race in a scam

52:25

in just a few hours. And

52:28

when we come, we're going to get

52:31

into what happens next. All right.

52:33

I cannot wait. Thank you again.

52:35

We're in it now. We're I've

52:37

already learned more than I ever

52:39

knew about this story. But

52:41

boy, buckle up, everybody.

52:43

Here we go. Thank you, time. So Riley.

52:45

Well, I hope you enjoyed that episode. We

52:47

had a lot of fun putting it together.

52:50

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52:52

and I talking complete and utter nonsense,

52:54

we have the Bazaar Plus members program.

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