Fine Cotton Fiasco

The plan was simple enough. Buy a horse of limited ability, swap it over before a race with a horse almost identical to it but with greater talent and speed, and sit back and make millions. But it all went pear-shaped when the ringer became injured . . . On 21 August 1984 the Eagle Farm racetrack in Brisbane was full to bursting. Forget the Melbourne Cup; this was the race that really stopped the nation - a novice handicap, the field a collection of try-hards, the rugged and the buggered. In the preceding hours and days there had been a massive betting plunge on a mediocre horse even for this field, the nine-year-old Fine Cotton. Across Australia, thousands of punters who believed they had the tip of the century held their breath... Journalist and humorist Peter Hoysted - a.k.a. Jack the Insider - turns his uniquely satirical eye to Australian racing's most infamous ring-in. The Fine Cotton Fiasco is the true story of a desperate Sydney gangster, corrupt police, a foolhardy trainer, a dodgy used-car salesman, a bucket of henna hair dye, an unsuspecting horse (two, actually), and a 'colourful racing identity' who saw it all coming and made a fortune for himself while everyone else did their dough.