The backing of Gagoola in the Rothsay Trial Stakes was a sensation….but where was the real Simba?

The significant drop in Gagoola's odds from 33-1 to 6-4 for the Rothsay Trial Stakes at Flemington in 1931 drew the attention of the Stewards as a remarkable and noteworthy plunge in betting. Despite the substantial backing, Gagoola unfortunately didn’t win the race. Gagoola finished second to a despised outsider, Stephanite, having its first start. Gagoola was beaten by three lengths and was rushed from the course under the noses of the Stewards who were waiting to question connections. The Stewards were left with egg on their faces but quickly tracked the horse down to the Mackinnon and Cox stables where Gagoola was seized.

Gagoola’s identity papers were double checked. The horse’s owner-trainer, Henry Graham, was interviewed. So was the horse’s breeder, H.J. Forrester, who verified that he had sold Gagoola to Graham in July 1929. VRC Stewards had no alternative but to release the horse but their suspicions were aroused and they continued their investigations.

Stewards watched the movements of Gagoola carefully. When the horse was booked on a train to Sydney, officials checked with the Railways and discovered that Gagoola was being shipped under the name of Wellfire. VRC Stewards decided to pounce. The Station Master at Albury was asked to verify that the horse named Wellfire was in-trained for Sydney and AJC officials, including the Registrar of Racehorses, were asked to inspect the horse when he arrived. The plot thickened when Gagoola was not off-loaded in Sydney. Somehow the horse had vanished into thin air! There was general hue-and-cry after the whereabouts of Gagoola and it wasn’t long before the horse was tracked down to a property at Cabramatta, in the western suburbs of Sydney. At the request of the VRC, AJC officials organised a “raid”, only to discover that Gagoola had been reduced to a pile of burnt bones. According to the property caretaker, Gagoola had broken a leg soon after his arrival from Melbourne, and had been shot and his body burned.

The investigation had run into a dead-end, but a few days later, on June 30, 1931, a new lead came to light when it was reported that a New Zealand galloper named Simba had suddenly gone “missing”. Trained in New Zealand by Jack Jamieson, and raced by J.S. McLeod, Simba was a smart sprinter and won at four of his five starts in the land of the long white cloud. It was then that McLeod received a lucrative offer to sell the horse, supposedly to a client of Sydney trainer Joe Smith for 1500 Guineas. Money was exchanged and Simba was shipped to Sydney on the steamship, Ulimaroa. On May 5, Joe Smith was notified from the Darling Harbour wharves that a horse consigned to him had arrived. Smith, as he later told AJC officials, knew nothing about the horse arriving and refused to make the pick-up. He disclaimed any knowledge of the sale. However, someone did arrive at the wharves to pick up Simba – a float operator named Bill Calnan. Calnan delivered the horse to a man who said his name was Smith (not Joe Smith, the trainer), and Simba promptly disappeared. Officially, that was the last known sighting of Simba.

Simba was a brown colt, but a few weeks later a horse appeared at Canterbury Park to work on the tracks under the name of Royal Scot. A float proprietor was called to pick up a mare, named Stately, but when he arrived, the horse led out was apparently Royal Scot. The horse then appeared at Flemington under the name Invicta, but no one noticed much as the horse wasn't nominated for any upcoming races. It wasn't until the horse was entered for the Rothsay Trial Stakes as Gagoola that things seemed somewhat amiss. Gagoola was Invicta alright, but he was also Royal Scot - and more then likely, Simba. He was given as a chestnut colt by the sire Yetman from broodmare, Dismay. The bookies stopped take bets 10 minutes prior to race time but the horse was underprepared and failed in the final stretch, much to the disgust of punters who had followed the money.

Gagoola left distressed and blowing, then quickly lead away from the course. Officials soon went to the stables, however the bird had flown. Gagoola was down to run at Epsom the following Wednesday, however the horse and connections never turned up. It was thought that the horse came back to Sydney on the Monday.

The AJC then called in the police. Descriptions and photographs of Simba were requested from New Zealand while inquires were made into the sale of the horse. The Jamieson stable revealed that the buyer was George Guest, who had horses trained with Joe Smith for unregistered meetings in Sydney. Simba, however, was meant for racing at registered meetings and Guest did not want the horse stabled with Smith. Which is why Calnan was asked to pick Simba up and deliver him elsewhere. Guest informed the AJC that he had then sent Simba to Warren, near Dubbo. Simba again disappeared. It was last rumoured that the horse was sold to race in Asia. The mystery racehorse, Simba, who had disappeared for several months, was also claimed to have been sold to Billy Robinson, a well known Tasmanian sportsman, and raced on that island. Simba still remains one of the greatest mysteries in Australian racing history - his whereabouts, unknown to this day.

It was a twisted and confusing Australian Racing scene that was still recovering from the Simba-Gagoola “ring-in” at Flemington when the Erbie-Redlock scandal broke in South Australia two years later.