FINE COTTON

Fine Cotton was a brown Australian gelding at the centre of a major ring-in scam which occurred on 18 August 1984, in the Commerce Novice Handicap over 1500 metres at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane, QLD. Although there have been many ring-ins and other illegal scams in Australian racing, the Fine Cotton scandal is by far the most infamous in Australia due to the involvement of some of racing's elite. The scam involved a syndicate said to be headed by former bloodstock agent John Gillespie, which purchased a horse that looked almost identical to Fine Cotton and performed better. Unfortunately for the syndicate, this horse (Dashing Soltaire) was injured and unable to race when the ring-in was due to take place. Having already invested money and gone so far, the syndicate decided to find another horse. With time running out, they purchased a horse called Bold Personality, an open-class horse several grades above Fine Cotton.

Trainer Hayden Haitana was bribed into bringing the horse to the races, however he only just managed to hold out Harbour Gold by half a head and win the race. Suspicious after the huge betting plunge and dramatic improvement made by "Fine Cotton," racing stewards launched an immediate investigation. As Bold Personality returned to scale, the paint was beginning to run on his leg, something obvious to those nearby. Several members of the crowd began to shout "ring-in". Stewards stopped payment of bets in the race while they spoke to Fine Cotton's trainer, Hayden Haitana. They requested the registration papers for Fine Cotton so that they could verify the identity of the race winner; however, Haitana absconded from the track without complying with this request and the scam began to fall apart. Bold Personality - alias Fine Cotton - was disqualified, and an official inquiry was opened. With the disqualification, runner-up Harbour Gold was awarded the race, and the many punters who had backed Fine Cotton did not receive payouts.

DAMIEN OLIVER

When one of Australia's biggest name jockeys is charged with a betting offence on a horse in a race he was riding against, it's a big story for all the wrong reasons and a reputational risk for the industry.

In November 2012 Damien Oliver, a multiple Melbourne Cup-winning jockey and multiple Melbourne premiership-winning rider, pleaded guilty to having a $10,000 bet, made via a third party – form analyst Mark Hunter who Oliver had called from the jockeys room, on a horse he rode against in a race at Moonee Valley on October 1, 2010. Oliver was aboard the Lee Freedman-trained Europa Point, the $3.80 second favourite, but it's fair to assume he wished he was riding Miss Octopussy, the $2.30 favourite which he had his $10,000 on. During the inquiry, Oliver admitted to being paid $11,000 from the result of the bet, the money passed to him in cash by Robert Smerdon. Oliver copped 10 months for his indiscretion, but was back for the spring carnival, which later resulted in the penalties becoming much harsher for jockeys caught betting.

TOMMY BERRY

Leading Sydney jockey Tommy Berry was banned from racing in 2012 for more than 12 months over a betting scandal. Berry had to front before a NSW stewards hearing where he was disqualified for 11 months and two weeks for "accepting a consideration". He was also suspended for a further four weeks for mobile phone offences. Jockeys are not permitted to use mobile phones inside the rooms during a race meeting. Stewards found Gold Coast butcher and big-time punter Zaid Miller transferred $15,000 to a family member of Berry's after he won more than $100,000 on races following advice from the jockey. Berry was back in the saddle in July 2013 after being given the green light to have the terms of his disqualification varied over the tips-for-benefits scandal.

JAMES McDONALD

A $1,000 bet cost James McDonald the most coveted riding position in Australian racing when he was disqualified for 18 months in 2016 by Racing NSW stewards, a decision that forced Godolphin to cut ties with the champion rider. The 24-year-old New Zealander pleaded guilty to having a $1,000 bet on Astern when the John O'Shea-trained colt made his debut at Randwick on December 5, 2015. JMac profited $4,000 from the bet that was placed for him by punter Anthony Gardiner.

Evidence provided at the Racing NSW inquiry detailed that Gardiner profited $125,000 from Astern's dominant display. Stewards said there was no evidence to suggest McDonald had been party to any other bets. McDonald replaced Kerrin McEvoy as Godolphin's number one jockey in Australia in March 2015, given his close ties with trainer John O'Shea, but was cut loose by the global racing powerhouse while he served his suspension. His returned and win in the Melbourne Cup on Verry Elleegant in 2016 was sweet redemption.

"BIG TONY"

In the early 1970s, Anthony Ciulla, known as "Big Tony," bribed jockeys in hundreds of races. They would usually be told to slow their horses so they didn't finish in the top three, thus ensuring that less favoured horses won and delivered big payouts. Ciulla once declared he'd been a fixer in all states with horse racing except California. In a race at Atlantic City in 1975, the jockey Ciulla had influenced was too obvious about reining in his horse. When asked why, he revealed Ciulla's involvement. While Ciulla was behind bars, the FBI offered a deal: His sentence would be shortened if he helped with an ongoing federal investigation into horse racing. Ciulla ended up testifying against the jockeys and trainers who'd fixed races for him before being granted entry into the Witness Protection Program.

THE FRATERNITY BROTHERS

After the Breeders' Cup race on October 26, 2002, Derrick Davis had winning Pick Six tickets - in which bettors try to select the winners in six consecutive races and won more than $3 million. Yet the circumstances of his success seemed suspicious: Davis was the only person with winning Pick Six tickets, had selected two long-shot winners and had made the unusual choice to pick winners in the first four races while selecting all horses to win in the last two races.

An investigation discovered that Chris Harn, one of Davis' fraternity brothers, was a senior computer programmer at Autotote, which handled the telephone betting service that Davis used. Harn had been able to make changes in Autotote's system after the first four races had been run, which let him select the winners for Davis' tickets. Harn had also rigged bets with another fraternity brother, Glen DaSilva. DaSilva, Davis and Harn all received prison sentences ranging from one year to 37 months.

DAVID WALKER

In the biggest scandal to hit New Zealand racing in years, Central Districts jockey David Walker had his riding licence withdrawn on charges of pulling up a horse so he could collect from betting on a rival in the same race. Walker was disqualified from racing for seven years, virtually ending the 38 year olds riding career in September 2014. Walker, is alleged to have deliberately ridden Watch Your Man to lose to rival St Ransom at Awapuni because he wagered heavily on the other horse beating his mount home in a head-to-head special option offered by TAB bookmakers. Stewards questioned Walker about his ride on the day after he first restrained Watch Your Man to the rear of the field, causing the horse to race ungenerously. Walker then improved his mount wide on the turn, giving him a couple of cursory strikes with the whip before running in behind horses up the straight, showing zero vigour and held his horse to the line. The footage was damning as Walker had placed $500 on St Ransom with additional CCTV footage catching him collecting his winnings at the local TAB. David Walker pleaded guilty to two charges of having a bet on a rivals horse and was found not guilty on two additional charges. He was caught riding trackwork at Marton in 2016 and did a runner, with the trainer fined $500 for allowing Walker to ride her horses.

ADAM HYERONIMUS

Racing NSW stewards forensically imaged years worth of data from the phone of jockey Adam Hyeronimus before alleging he was party to 31 bets made by his cousin, including one on a horse that landed one of the biggest plunges in Sydney for years. Stewards allege Hyeronimus was party to a $500 bet on Tim Martin's Limbo Soul, which he rode to victory on debut at Rosehill in February 2017. The horse was sensationally offered as much as $26 in pre-post markets before jumping at $3.20. Hyeronimus and his cousin Blake Paine were found guilty of placing bets on horses the jockey was riding (twice) as well as a string of bets on horses in races that he wasn't riding in between 2016 and 2018. Hyeronimus would often transfer money to Paine, labelled ‘savings' or ‘gift' before the latter would then bet through a Sportsbet account. The bets would range from $100 to $1000 with bank transfers, phone records and betting statements used to support the stewards' case. He was slapped with a three-year ban for his role in a betting scandal.   

SILVESTRE DE SOUSA

de Sousa rose from obscurity in his home of Brazil to become, arguably the world's best jockey, making millions around the globe. Three-time champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa was suspended in 2023 for 10 months after pleading guilty to a betting charge. De Sousa, who has raced in Hong Kong since September, was banned from racing until 12 March 2024. His Brazilian compatriot Vagner Borges was handed a 12-month ban for the same offence. The Hong Kong Jockey Club said Borges "had an interest in a bet" on his mount Young Brilliant in a race on 26 April, 2023. The HKJC said De Sousa "facilitated" the bet and there was no evidence before the stewards that Borges and De Sousa had ridden their horses in the respective race with any intention other than to obtain the best possible placing for their mounts. De Sousa, who appealed the penalty then mysteriously withdrew the appeal, was sitting fifth in the championship race with 45 winners from 434 rides while Borges, a four-time champion jockey in Brazil, had seven winners from 247 rides. He aimed to return to the UK and resume riding.

BILL VLAHOS

Bill Vlahos spruiked himself as a horse racing expert who had a foolproof method of picking winners, and encouraged others to enjoy the ride with him in a Victorian punting club. Instead, he took punters for mugs and defrauded friends, family and others of millions over six years in an audacious betting scam. Vlahos was jailed for nine years in 2021 for ripping off 71 people in a large-scale punters club he ran between 2008 and 2013. It was in fact a notorious PONZI scheme.

The Edge was promoted as a betting syndicate where punters could capitalise on Vlahos’ self-described genius for devising a mathematical formula for picking the right horse and his connection to an international betting expert, Daniel Maxwell, also known as “Max”. But “Max” was a work of fiction and instead of laying the forecast bets he promised his members, Vlahos kept their money and used it to fund a life of luxury for himself and his wife. Vlahos emailed members betting sheets on Friday nights and Saturday mornings, outlining the horses he claimed he would back at meetings in Melbourne and Sydney. On Sundays, he emailed sheets of the results of those races and details on how the punters allegedly fared. Vlahos was arrested and charged with more than 350 counts of fraud and was accused of misappropriating $129 million. But after many weeks of negotiations between his lawyers and prosecutors in 2019, he pleaded guilty to two rolled-up counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and admitted he defrauded 71 people out of a combined $17.5 million. Proceedings begun in 2023 as an attempt to recover approximately $13 million from Vlahos.