The Fine Cotton Affair

Just the Gist

How many boxes of hair dye does it take to change the colour of an entire race horse? One night in 1984, some very drunk Aussie criminals found out. John Gillespie and Hayden Haitana thought they had a sure fire way to win a lot of cash in horse racing - take a slow horse that nobody expects to win, and secretly swap it with an identical, but faster horse. A genius horse racing ring-in! The only problem? The fast 'Bold Personality' looks nothing like the slow 'Fine Cotton'. So Gillespie and Haitana get desperate, and just hope nobody notices on race day...

Australian horse racing's biggest ever scandal, the Fine Cotton Affair involves the 'racing royalty' Waterhouse family, a secret hideout at the Big Banana, and a whole lot of empty hair dye boxes.

We give you just the gist, but if you want more, there's this:

READ “The Fine Cotton Fiasco”, the book Jacob mentioned https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-fine-cotton-fiasco-9780143793700

LISTEN to the first season of ABC’s podcast “Dig”, called “The Ring In” (hosted by our pal Veronica Milsom) https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/presents-dig-the-ring-in/13780332

LISTEN to a chat with the author of “The Fine Cotton Fiasco”, Peter Hoysted, from 2015 https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/05/04/4228556.htm

PERUSE some articles with some references images https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-19/fine-cotton-racing-scandal-dig-podcast/100899712

https://www.punters.com.au/news/the-fine-cotton-affair-ringing-in-30-years-of-controversy-20140817/

https://www.alittlebithuman.com/fine-cotton-bold-personality-and-white-paint-the-infamous-australian-horse-racing-scandal/

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/fine-cotton-mastermind-scandal/news-story/43e4e9657e7962fb21fa0b0c122dab65

WATCH a 2019 clip from A Current Affair featuring the guy whose lawn was destroyed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB1WNDyilNY

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