“It was a swindle, Sir Robert. Let us call things by their proper names. It makes everything simpler.” Oscar Wilde “An Ideal Husband”
Every day since this huge 1930 double on Phar Lap - Amounis occurred, most have considered it to be the conniving work of Eric Connolly. A justified assumption. It certainly exhibited all his trademark moves and then some. But in this case, although it may look like a duck and quack like one, we could well be looking at more than one plot. There is no doubt Connolly was involved in this massive scheme. The real question being asked, was he the instigator and was he the main driver of this double? Or are we looking at different betting syndicates involved? Of course, the combined effect was nonetheless deadly to the bookies and SP operators but this may not have been as premeditated or focused as one might first imagine. None of this deflects from the one aim for all those involved. How to make money out Phar Lap, the shortest priced, dead set certainty Australian racing is ever likely to see in a Melbourne Cup.
“I have no hesitation at describing Eric Connolly as the King of the Turf. The most astute man in the world. His knowledge is such that he could go to any country and make money in racing. Other men with a wholesale knowledge of the turf are Jack Holt, Cecil Godby, Lou Robertson and Frank McGrath. All these have spent their lives in racing with marked success and any one of them would make his presence felt in any country. As a judge of running he has no equal. Connolly’s summing up of any race is highly regarded for he knows how to dissect form and information.” Sporting Globe 23 January 1937
The secret to the elegantly dressed, chain smoking, cool as a cucumber Eric Connolly being a successful punter was not dumb luck. Connolly was the complete racing package. Some were expert trainers and conditioners while others being more adept at placing their horse in the correct race with the most suitable rider. Many trainers were expert vets and could mix up a healing tonic that would see modern day trainers banned forever. Others possessed a freakish ability to understand horseflesh. Many were good yearling buyers while others displayed an encyclopaedic knowledge of bloodlines. Among a huge army of gamblers their resided a small elite of fearless men and women who wagered mind boggling amounts. Some could construct elaborate plunges, in conjunction with trainers or owners, while others placed bets at the last moment or even in the middle of a race. In every one of these groups, we find Eric Connolly. A man equally accomplished as any of these individuals with their specialised skill set. On top of everything else, there is hardly a bad word to be said of him. He was racing's true all rounder. In any of these single aspects of horse racing, Connolly could make a good living. The Garfield Sobers of racing.* Yet Eric Connolly still remains a very difficult person to accurately define.
*Considered cricket's greatest all rounder
Trainer, owner, bloodstock expert, and punter with the mind of a mathematic savant, Eric Connolly was also a masterful self-promoter. Everybody in the Commonwealth knew of him. "The luck of Eric Connolly" became a popular saying like the "Heart of Phar Lap". Even those without a scintilla of interest in racing knew his name. In short, Eric Connolly worked very hard at being Eric Connolly. The difference between someone going out for a jog to keep fit and an Olympic middle distance runner is the difference between your average punter and the amount of work Connolly applied to his craft. Down at the course earlier than most trainers, Connolly could be seen puffing his way through sessions while timing horses and chatting with fellow trainers, owners, jockeys and strappers. He knew everything about every horse worth knowing about. Much of this information on horses could be gained through Connolly’s very likable personality and the readiness people had to tell him what he needed to know.
Connolly invariably went into partnership with trainers and owners for his betting plunges, if he was not directly involved with training the horses himself. Of course, if some of Connolly’s practices were applied in a brokerage firm, he would probably be jailed for insider trading. However, Connolly possessed a valuable skill set reaching far beyond most trainers or punters. Although the majority of trainers were heavy gamblers, Connolly usually had a far keener awareness of the odds. To him, betting was a far more three dimensional game than simply backing a winner or organising a plunge. In any given race, Connolly constructed multiple winning options to minimise risk. For him to be continually successful required hard work, many hours of research, observation, conversation and collusion. Working on the Winston Churchill adage that it was better for a person to wear out than rust out, Connolly led a life that would exhaust most mortals.
*The Sun 29 January 1930
** Wellington Times 24 April, 1930
In the safe knowledge of having the Robertson brothers in his service, Sol Green purchased an old 440 acre sheep property at Bacchus Marsh, northwest of Melbourne, called “Underbank” in 1925. He began the long task of transforming it into a showpiece.* Assisted by the Robertson brothers’ experience from Allendale and Blackwood Park as well as his own from Shipley, the ongoing project for his training and breeding of his very expensive imported horses. It also became known throughout the racing community as the most luxurious, most complete health spa for horses, imaginable.** After the grueling spring and autumn carnivals, Frank McGrath usually left Amounis in Melbourne to be cared for by Sol Green’s oldest son Bob, a chronic gambler, and his team. For most who visited for the first time, Underbank was magnificent. Money was no object to Green, which was just as well as the place would have bled most mortals dry. Many owners possessed impressive properties and stables of their own. Underbank was something else again. Seasoned pressmen, who had visited most studs in Australia, often failed in their descriptions to convey just how impressive this stud was to their readers. Nestled in the rolling hills and valleys, one reporter stated, “Words utterly fail to convey any conception of this establishment.”*** Justifiably proud of his achievements, Sol Green often explained he wanted the best and spared no expense, if that fact had not been obvious enough already.
*Referee 3 February 1926
** The Australasian 6 February 1932
***Hickie, David “Gentlemen of the Australian Turf”
Huge oval paddocks fashioned for his thoroughbreds, prized cattle and sheep. Outwardly managed by his son Robert, it was, as in all things, Sol Green who controlled everything. Underbank boasted massive paddocks of top quality lucerne and became known within the racing industry for its quality of lucerne as much as it was renown for revitalising horses. First and foremost, Underbank was run for Green and Lou Robertson's racing operation and thoroughbred breeding program.
Underbank was also a racing equivalent of an exclusive country club boasting an equally impressive clubhouse. While the horses were being pampered, so too were Underbank’s who’s who from the racing and business fraternities. It became an ideal place for the racing community to relax, chat and scheme. Most racing conversations over the Christmas period of 1929, after witnessing the sensational spring carnivals in New South Wales and Victoria, swirled around the subject of Phar Lap. Despite Phar Lap failing in the Melbourne Cup, which most recognised as the fault of trainer or jockey, there hung an inevitability over what was to occur in autumn 1930. Many gathered by the white painted fences, watching the two best geldings in Australia romping around Green’s lush paddocks. The best racing brains in the business narrowed their gaze while their conversations bounced on and off Phar Lap and Amounis. For many of these men, who bet in a modern day equivalent of millions of dollars, the real question was not how good Phar Lap could become. What they tried to figure out was how you could make money racing against Phar Lap or betting with prohibitively low odds backing Phar Lap. Either way, for the big time punters, both prospects appeared decidedly bleak.
Watching Amounis and Phar Lap together at Underbank, it is not difficult to see how the seeds of this massive double could be planted. Most of the main players, except Eric Connolly, were looking at the two protagonists playing in adjacent paddocks. This double has always been written about as some stroke of genius rather than reacting to the bleeding obvious. The real trick to this double was not in thinking it up. Blind Freddie could work out the odds would improve dramatically doubling Phar Lap with another horse in either Cup.
Many trainers, jockeys and stable hands struggled with their undeclared gambling addiction. Gambling was a necessity due to trainers and jockeys receiving only a small percentage of already pitifully low winning stakes that hardly kept life and limb together. Not only were the majority of stakes low compared to those of today, but they were also about to be lowered even further by the racing clubs with the onset of the Depression. While it was great to win marquee events and Group 1 races, more often than not for the trainer, winning a suburban race backed by a well organised plunge reaped far greater dividends. These unexpected plunges, which Connolly, Robertson, McGrath, Holt and Cecil Godby excelled at, would also provide greater financial benefit to the jockey and stable hands. A well planned plunge sometimes took months of clandestine training to produce a long shot rabbit from the hat to fleece the bookies. It also took some carefully orchestrated efforts through commissioned agents to have bets placed without alerting the bookies to an impending plunge.
*Daily Pictorial 12 March 1930
The Eric Connolly who made his appearance at Randwick for the 1930 AJC Easter Carnival was not the same man who terrorised bookies the season before with Nightmarch. Visibly thinner, older and weaker, the elegant Connolly still smoked like a chimney but most of his previous vitality was now missing. Many were shocked by his gaunt appearance and washed out features. Before his heart attack, Connolly possessed a freakish ability to float around a betting ring while rapidly placing a string of bets. Connolly may have been happy to be back at a racecourse but it was evident his days of quick invasion now a thing of the past. He made the decision long ago that he would never retire. While watching the mare Gwillian G win a Sydney Cup, he spoke with knowledgeable racing journalist Tom Ellis about when he was over in England. At that stage, he was conservatively estimated to be worth $50 million in today's money. After his heart attack, Connolly was given advice by his doctor to retire from racing.
"What would I do if I retired?" Connolly pondered, to which Ellis replied somewhat confused, "You're independent. Why do anything?" Connolly lit another cigarette and looked at Ellis for a moment, "I'll tell you when I came back from England in 1926 I had an open mind about retiring but didn't like England's climate. I crossed over to the South of France. There I stayed in a place where only the very richest remain. Men who have retired. There they have every luxury and can laze around in the sunshine as long as they wish. Before I had been there a week I decided that retirement, even under the most luxurious circumstances was not for me. Do you know what all those idle rich are doing, Tom?" Ellis shook his head, "What?" "They are waiting to die! And if I knew for certain I was going to die in the morning, I'd want to be at the races today." Burrowa News 1933
While his body may have been failing him, Connolly’s mind had lost little of its sharpness or creativity. Nor his ability to look at a horse and recognise its potential. The colts Cragford and Cathmar along with a six year old Queensland bay gelding, Soulton all caught Connolly’s eye. The 1930 Sydney autumn carnival produced a string of losses on the Connolly betting sheet but away from the racecourse he made his greatest gains. Whether Rufe Naylor took this opportunity to build a bridge with his old nemesis or Connolly saw Naylor as a fellow traveller with an equally dodgy heart, their rift appeared mended. This reconciliation between Connolly and Naylor would produce huge dividends for them later in the year when they joined forces.
The other areas where Connolly excelled were in his planning and friendships. Sometimes they were indistinguishable from the other. Soulton's prickly Queensland owner Harry Winten appeared in constant battle with his trainer, Pat Ryan. Who knew this could happen between a trainer and an owner? The direction a horse's training takes and what races they enter is usually decided by an owner in conjunction with the trainer. Sometimes it is just the trainer, who the owner believes has a better handle on the situation than themselves. To Winten, being guided by your trainer meant yelling at him on how things were going to be. On the other hand, having a situation explained through fresh eyes sometimes works wonders. After a conversation with Eric Connolly, Harry Winten decided it would be best for his trainer to travel back to Queensland and for Soulton to continue travelling south to Melbourne for a crack at the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. Connolly told Winten he knew just the trainer for the job.
By the time Sydney’s 1930 Autumn Carnival concluded, every punter, bookmaker and racing journalist in Australia thought Phar Lap to be nigh on unbeatable. After eclipsing Strephon's incredible autumn carnival of the previous year, everyone realised Phar Lap could only improve. Whether or not Phar Lap was the greatest horse of all time is irrelevant. He was far and away the greatest horse of this time and, strangely, a menace to the gambling aspect of racing. It is difficult to make good money out of something that is so dominant unless there was another horse you could couple him with.
In the autumn, Amounis started seven times for five firsts and two seconds. Ridden by Jim Pike, Amounis came second to Nightmatch in the Autumn Stakes. Pike had already ridden Amounis to victory in the Rosehill Stakes, St. George Stakes and Essendon Stakes in the last couple of months. Amounis came second to Phar Lap in the Chipping Norton ahead of Nightmarch third. If you really want to know how good a horse is, ask the jockey. Especially one who was a heavy gambler and could best assess whether or not Amounis should be the first leg of a Caulfield Melbourne Cups double.
All three horses went off for their winter break. Nightmarch back to New Zealand, Phar Lap, via Adelaide, stayed in Sydney to be painted by Stuart Reed and Amounis headed for Underbank. They would all meet up again in their first up race of the spring at Warwick Farm. Long before then, the wheels were put in motion, as a small group of people formulated how to make some money out of these horses.
All copying, broadcasting, resending or use in any way both commercially and privately without author’s permission is strictly prohibited.
No comments:
Post a Comment