Many years have passed since the running of the 1969 Melbourne Cup. In fact, it's closing in on 60 years since Australian racing suffered one of the most dramatic incidents ever encountered in the history of the sport. It all surrounded the brilliant stayer, Big Philou as the champion was endeavouring to complete the rare feat of the Caulfield /Melbourne Cups double. The stallion, trained by Bart Cummings, successfully fulfilled the first part of the wager by winning the Caulfield Cup; but only after being declared the winner on protest after crossing the line second. This is where the seedy underbelly of horse racing reared its ugly head.

The conditions were set for what would have been only the seventh Cups Double. Both Cummings and Higgins were confident in Big Philou's victory, and the horse received significant backing despite the presence of the previous year's Melbourne Cup winner, Rain Lover. However, the stallion appeared in ill health only a short time our from the race and the connections were seriously concerned as to why a perfectly fit horse was now struggling to function. Big Philou, being walked just before the 4 November race, had dropped his head and looked "very distressed" claimed Cummings. Veterinary surgeon of the Victoria Racing Club, Dr J. Bourke, declared Big Philou unfit to race after an examination. Just minutes before the start of Australia’s premier horse race, came a dramatic announcement over Flemington’s loud-speakers: HOT FAVOURITE BIG PHILOU IS SCRATCHED. The big crowd was suitably stunned as Roy Higgins claimed he was "waiting to wake up from a bad dream, it's as if it hasn't happened."

Jockey Roy Higgins believed that the horse was a certainty to win the race, with many believing he was in the right condition to dominate the 3200m event. The thunderstruck pair of Higgins and Cummings were forced to sit it out. Afterward, Higgins, perhaps reflecting on some of the possible consequences, and venting his disgust, said, "Now the horse could have collapsed. If it was another 20 minutes down the line, that horse could have collapsed and brought half the field down. Killed me, killed others, killed horses, you know."

On the night before the Cup, a strapper called Les Lewis who had recently been sacked by Cummings for ill-treating horses, used his knowledge of the stables to get access to Big Philou and fed the horse a huge dose of the laxative Danthron - likely a two man job. Police and racing stewards soon picked up Lewis' trail and he was extradited from New Zealand back to Sydney but refused to admit his guilt or name who put him up to it. Lewis was charged with conspiracing to cheat and defraud. The civil courts acquitted Lewis on the Big Philou charge but he was found guilty of attempting to incite another to nobble King Pedro.

Punters desirous of a huge payday will often put some of their bank on the Cups Double, and this one occasion when the potential liability to bookies proved too strong to accept, resulted in one of the biggest scandals of all time. Rain Lover went on to win the Cup and created history as the first back-to-back winner since Archer in 1861 and 1862. Big Philou eventually made a full recovery, went on to win the 1970 VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and the Underwood Stakes.

It was confirmed many years after the incident that the former strapper was definitely responsible for ruining Big Philou's Melbourne Cup chances. Les Lewis, dying of cancer, had in fact poisoned Big Philou, along with another runner, Tail. The sum of money involved was around $10,000 and Lewis hoped to clear his conscience before dying, but apparently his guilt was not sufficient to cause him to implicate the mastermind behind the scheme. The name Bill Waterhouse was commonly mentioned in relation to the doping of Big Philou. It was clear Lewis phoned Sydney and it is clear he made the calls to Stanlight Investments of which William Waterhouse and John Waterhouse are directors. It was an incident that created intense ill-will between Sydney's two most powerful racing dynasties - the Waterhouse and Cummings clans that lingered for decades. 

Cummings would gain revenge when he informed Bill Waterhouse that Leilani couldn't win a major race, with Bill altering the odds, only for Leilani to go on and win the race, costing the bookie a fortune. When Waterhouse approached Bart to ask him why he had given him a bum steer, Cummings had only one response - "That's for Big Philou Bill."

The greed of a few caused Bart Cummings champion to miss the 69' Cup due to being doped before the big race