“Eric Connolly – The Napoleon of the Victorian Turf”
Sydney Sportsman, April 1923
Early winter mornings in Melbourne can be cold affairs. A starless black sky slowly turning to grey with the dawn; the racing community had been up for hours. Men peered through powerful binoculars into the gloom, stopwatches in hand, timing one horse after another as they came thundering down the Caulfield straight in pairs. Away from a general throng of trainers, owners, bookies, jockeys, strappers and press, an elegantly dressed man, stood quietly, chain-smoking, as faint clicking of his stopwatches could be heard. He stood there without expression, smoking and watching one horse after another. Not once did he take a note.
After the last horses galloped by, Eric Connolly made his way towards some trainers and owners. “Heard from His Majesty recently?” joked trainer Dave Price. “Yes,” Connolly replies, laughing, “He asked me to pass on his regards and to Mrs. Price. So, Dave, your colt is looking better.” “Needs a bit more work, we are getting there.” “Reckon he’ll be right in time?” “He’ll be a chance. Start putting a saver on now.” “If I'm going to throw money away, how about I give a fiver to the Salvation Army, so I can at least feel good about myself.” Both men laughed while Connolly casually ran a hand over Dave Price’s brown colt. “He is stronger than he appears,” Connolly noted, “Never underestimate that Tracery line.” “I’m not kidding,” Price continued, “he’ll be in the mix.” “Let us hope Dave, he’s not too much in the mix.”
Horses and betting - you can hardly think of one without the other. In the history of Australian racing, there have been many legendary punters. One of Australia’s greatest was born on a sheep station outside Wangaratta, Victoria in April 1880. Eric Alfred Connolly, youngest son of Henry and Elizabeth embodies all aspects of racing like very few others.* His father, Henry resettled the family in Balaclava, Melbourne during the devastating 1890’s Depression. A moderately successful horse trainer, his sons were raised around horses. Most kids in their neighbourhood played mock Australia versus England Test matches. Eric, with his older brothers Harry and Joe, ran Grand National steeplechases in their 10 acre front yard.
*Eric had four sisters and two older brothers – "Courage Lost" – John Macnaughton
Eric Connolly loved horses and he loved betting on them. Still only fifteen years old, he overheard his father at breakfast fancy two horses running at Flemington that afternoon. Young Eric managed to cobble together £8, including pawning one of his father’s ponies with their local butcher and begging a loan off his close friend, jockey Bobby Lewis. Taking a Hansom cab out to the course, Connolly won £100 to £8 in the first race, waited until the fifth race, and bet it all to pick up an extra £600. Connolly hurried home ahead of his father to retrieve their pony for £12 before having it turned into meat pies. He sat down for dinner that evening one of the wealthiest teenagers in Melbourne having just won £700 or over half a million dollars in today’s value. But as jockey Bobby Lewis retells,
“Of the £700, Eric gave a great deal away. There were a lot of people with big families who were in want about our neighbourhood at that time and he helped them all.” Barrier Miner 23 November 1933
The story is a good example of who Eric Connolly was and demonstrates in part why he became so successful. Not only was he smart, fearless and cunning, but Connolly was also always undeniably generous. These attributes lay a solid foundation for him becoming one of Australia’s most feared and famous punters. He may have been generous to others, but many were also exceedingly generous to Eric Connolly with their information. This inside information to a man acknowledged as racing’s most astute judge was nothing short of priceless.
Eric Connolly began, like many in racing, as a strapper and progressed to having his own training licence. In 1902 he bought a six-year-old gelding by Tarcoola cheaply and trained it over the jumps. Attempting to spring one on the bookies, his horse failed miserably. Not to be defeated; good plan, bad horse. He found another Tarcoola* sired colt for only £10 that he again converted to the jumps. Connolly personified the George Bernard Shaw adage of “Some people see things as they are and ask why, while others dream things that never were and ask why not?”** This second effort of Connolly's proved incredibly successful when The General went on to win the 1904 Grand National Steeplechase by over six lengths. Connolly collected over £30,000 in stakes and bets. Later in the same year, he picked up a further £10,000 on his friend John Wren’s Murmur when it won the Caulfield Cup.*** These betting wins allowed Connolly to set up his own stables at Mordialloc.****
*Tarcoola requires a little more than just a passing mention as he won the 1893 Melbourne Cup having beaten Carbine’s half-brother, Carnage (both sired by Musket). His bloodline is particularly good for stayers having the champion English horse Stockwell on both his sire and dam side. Stockwell through his dam Pocahontas supposedly carries the gene for large hearts so useful in stayers. Tarcoola was sired by the first Caulfield Cup winner (1879), Newminster. Tarcoola was later sent to California for stud duties in 1900.
** Paraphrased by Edward Kennedy during his 1968 eulogy of Robert Kennedy – the real quote is - I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?" from The Serpent, in Pt. I : In the Beginning, Act I
*** The Sydney Morning Herald 10 October 1944, page 4
**** Mordialloc was considered one of the racing centres of Melbourne along with Flemington and Caulfield. It was often stated that it was nigh impossible to walk around Mordialloc without stepping into some mountainous pile of horse manure.
Eric Connolly married Ada Webb, in January 1906 with their first daughter, Iris, born a few months later. The Connolly’s lived in Edith Street, Mordialloc (less than two kilometres from Australia’s most prestigious trotting establishment: Allendale Stock Farm). While working in the same area, and often using the same bookies, Connolly and the trotting trainer, driver and manager of Allendale Stock Farm, Lou Robertson, became very good friends. Eric’s brother Harry had been sending some of his pacing mares to Allendale to be covered by their prized US imported stallion Abbey Bells.* Connolly and Robertson were kindred spirits, knowledgeable, secretive and very keen to take as much money as possible from the bookies. Through Robertson’s close working relationship with trotting, boxing, cycling and illegal gambling kingpin, John Wren, Connolly also became friends with Wren.**
* The Victorian Trotting Record, December 10, 1909
** "The Oyster and the Wizard" dp robertson
Like great sparring partners Eric Connolly, John Wren and Sol Green enjoyed a long history of attempting to take money off the other while still being the closest of friends. In these tussles over the years, Green often came out on top. In one classic encounter, Connolly linked his brilliant New Zealand bred mare Anna Carlovna in the 1913 Caulfield Cup, for a lucrative double, to most of the main chances in the Melbourne Cup. Green, who was carrying a good percentage of Connolly’s doubles now faced a financial savaging. When Anna Carlovna won the Stand Handicap leading up to the Caulfield Cup things started going from grim to catastrophic for Green. In his desperation, Sol Green found Sydney based four-year-old stallion, Aurifer, the only other horse in Australia he felt a chance to defeat Anna Carlovna in the Caulfield Cup. Unfortunately for Green, the connections had already scratched their horse from the Caulfield Cup. Facing the real possibility of a crippling payout, Sol Green went as far as to fund all the expenses to reregister Aurifer for the Caulfield Cup, transporting him down to Victoria and laying a £5,000 to nothing carrot for owner Fred Merton, Rosehill trainer James Siely and jockey Bill Smith. Siely had already won a Caulfield Cup three years earlier with Flavinius and the trio were now set to win another fortune with this race.*
* Cumberland Angus and Fruit Growers Advocate, 15 July 1942
In Godfather parlance, it was an offer Merton and his trainer couldn’t refuse. Connolly looking good for a £100,000 payday, when in a heartstopper, Aurifer caught Connolly’s Anna Carlovna at the post. A few weeks later, Green bet against Anna Carlovna winning the Melbourne Stakes; she won, and Connolly took back £10,000 of his money.* Connolly, Green and Wren held enormous respect and friendship for one another. When Sol Green travelled overseas to America and England in 1925, he met up with Eric Connolly, who was in the process of petrifying British bookmakers with fellow friends, and gambling fiends, trainer Cecil Godby, Heroic owner Jack Corteen and bookie George Shrimpton. Godby and Corteen were enjoying some downtime after being rubbed out over the inconsistent running of Purser. They were all at the Tattersall’s Club for the “Reading of the Card” before the Derby with Sol Green and were all frequent visitors at the major meetings and sales.** All these men lived and breathed horses, gambling, and of course cooking up schemes to fleece bookies. Some even found time to train horses while others were trading, scheming or doing huge property deals. On any given day, anyone of these gentlemen was like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland.
“There's no use trying,” Alice said: “one can't believe impossible things.”“I daresay you haven't had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”***
* Hickie, David “Gentlemen of the Australian Turf” –Chapter 10, page 97
** First Tuesday in November – D.L. Bernstein – As an example of the incredible mathematical brain of Sol Green, possibly one of the few people in racing quicker with numbers than even Eric Connolly, Green would regularly go to the Calling of the Card at Epsom, back every horse in the race and no matter the result still turn enough profit to pay for him and his family and friends' entire holiday to England.
*** "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll
Connolly was once questioned, “How do you get onto to so many big winners?” He replied with a wry smile, “Well, first of all, you pick out a good trainer with a good horse. Wait till he backs it for a good race and then follow the lead.”* For nearly forty years Connolly did just that and the one trainer’s lead he followed above all others was that of Lou Robertson. The two men were more than just good friends, being the others’ confidant and in many instances, business partners well away from the betting ring. One small example of this shows up in the will of Andrew Robertson’s deceased wife, Annie Jane Robertson.
* News 11 August 1945
After Lou and Andrew Robertson broke up their successful partnership with Allen and George Tye at Allendale Stock farm, part of their £6,000 payout found its way into funding Andrew and Annie Jane’s holding on the Hampton Hotel. While Lou had investments in conjunction with Andrew, they also roped in Connolly. In this case, Connolly assisted to the tune of £600 through his Commonwealth War Bonds and Lou Robertson, who also tipped in £600. Unfortunately, Annie Jane, who was the real licensee and publican, tragically passed away from Bright’s Disease in July 1921, thus the Affidavit of Surety to cover their debt against Andrew’s estate.* These loans were paid by Andrew shortly thereafter when he sold his hotel lease and returned to racing. But it does clearly demonstrate the business involvement Connolly had with the Robertson brothers and would continue to have through racing, breeding and horse ownership. And of course, betting. Of all the racing partnerships Eric Connolly held over the years, none were as strong as those forged with Lou Robertson. While many in this Phar Lap-Amounis double have focused on Connolly and David Davis, the focus should be on Lou Robertson, D.J. Price and Frank McGrath and their relationship with Eric Connolly.
* Victoria Archives
If you were to give Eric Connolly a job description, although he was as good as any trainer, a master punter and an expert horseman, his real gift was being a friend. Connolly’s circle of friends was certainly impressive. While mates with Robertson, John Wren , and anybody worth knowing in racing, he could also count the likes of King Edward VII, Governors and politicians among his close acquaintances. Very similar to both Sol Green and John Wren, for Connolly his real currency was information. Connolly would often say, “Until you realise chance or luck is not the sovereign master of racing, you will never meet with solid success.”* Labelling Connolly as just a successful punter is a misnomer. An astute speculator or even financier was closer to the mark. While betting is legitimate, Connolly sometimes stepped a very fine line between legitimate betting and an orchestrated swindle.
*Freeman’s Journal, 10 June 1926
Famous throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Commonwealth, Connolly was loved by all who knew him. He may have terrified bookmakers around Australia but many times his biggest betting coups would be in conjunction with his silent training partners or owners. And sometimes, in the case of Sydney bookie Jim Hackett, in conjunction with a bookmaker. A description of Eric Connolly appeared in “The World”, October 1922. It summed up Connolly and his reputation within the racing community. While Lou Robertson, or even more so in the case of Harry Telford, could be seen as aloof, antisocial or in some situations, downright misanthropic, it was certainly never the case with the ever popular Eric Connolly.
“To be a good judge of a horse, to be an excellent trainer, to be a big punter and a successful one to boot as well as being a likeable man is a rare combination. Connolly has all those qualifications. Generally, if a man is a good judge he is a pest and never tires of telling you about a horse. If he is a successful punter then he looks down upon you as a poor nut who should be locked up or placed in a home for backing losers. If he is a successful trainer he won’t speak to you. More often than not if he is a nice fellow he is not a successful trainer. Connolly was always a likeable chap.” Eric Connolly” The World, 5 October 1922
Eric Connolly’s number one rule on betting is not available to the majority of punters unless you are prepared to give up most other aspects of your life and live at a racecourse. His genius lay not simply in his general understanding of horses, of which he was acknowledged as having very few peers, rather it was in his thorough understanding of people and the mechanics of betting.
“Financier rather than Gambler is the profession of Eric Connolly. His knowledge of horses and the proficiency of mental arithmetic are inheritances perfected by concentration and development. His success rests largely with these qualities.” How Eric Connolly Bets and Wins 1926
He was one of the most engaging, knowledgeable, and likeable individuals ever to walk on to a racecourse. His understanding of horses and partnerships reaped thousands of pounds. Like Sol Green, John Wren and the best of the bookmakers he pitted himself against, Connolly had a mathematical mind like a steel trap. While the average punter may be able to fathom how odds and betting really works, which is giving the average punter a huge benefit of the doubt, the vast ocean of casual punters rolling up to the TAB or bookies on carnival race days are largely clueless. The real reason why Connolly is in that rarefied elite of racing gamblers does not rest entirely on the size of his bets, fearlessness or his ongoing success, rather his ability to conjure extraordinary bets out of thin air. Bets made during races, elaborate doubles and the ability to go flying like Mary Poppins around a betting ring where time is almost suspended a minute before a race, while wagering a fortune. He employed systems of multiple betting insuring against his losses or backing dual runners to minimise risk. When all boiled down, it came to this.
“Beating the books can only be obtained by beating the odds. This can only be done by a knowledge of odds and figures – it is really much more essential than a knowledge of horses. The art in wagering is to get a longer price against a runner that represents his real chance. Obtaining inside information about a horse which is not in favour owing to the public’s ignorance of his capabilities is the only way of doing this. Money makes favourites and the practice of following non-plunging owners and stables is often a good one, providing the horses are classy enough and their mentors know their business…belief in luck is a relic of the superstitious ages. Gambling carried on long enough is certain ruin. Success on the racecourse is a miniature battle of life, and victory is for the gamest as well as for the cleverest. It involves a series of rapid decisions and actions – one depending on the other” “Eric Connolly” World, 5 October 1922
And in “one depending on the other” is exactly how the sting of 1930 unfolded. In the face of this continuing myth of Eric Connolly and David Davis instigating the 1930 Amounis-Phar Lap double, is the nature of Eric Connolly. Although conservative he was far from shy and enjoyed his fearless reputation of being the best punter in Australia. Any of his previous coups, and there were many before 1930, most of the Commonwealth heard about it. There is not a peep out of him with regards his involvement in the Phar Lap – Amounis double. This is in stark contrast to the year before where Eric Connolly was front and centre and at the top of his game in 1929. In 1930, we are looking at a very different man. There is however a link in these two years. His 1929 spring carnival displays a man who was fearless, brilliant and conniving with a complete mastery of his situation. To fully understand what happened in 1930, you first need to look at Connolly during the spring carnival of 1929. As far as orchestrating a betting plunge, this was nothing short of extraordinary. More than any other plunge, this would remain Eric Connolly’s true masterpiece.
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