Murphy's Stroke & Nancy Astor

[kikituna]

Jul 13, 2013 18:32:19 GMT -5 eaz35173 said:

Here is the link for the Nancy Astor files.  There are 4 files and they only contain Pierce's parts in the miniseries.

The link will be available until July 28, 2013

Download link
we.tl/Xt7QCRPkpp

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

I'm downloaded right now and I can't wait for watch this show. 

Again, thank you. I'm soooo glad 

Kisses

[eaz35173]

MS is back up on youtube (not my upload).  Not sure how long it will be there because they have taken it down before.  So watch now or download now for later ...

[eaz35173]

www.racingtoursireland.com/great-irish-racing-betting-coups-3/

Great Irish Racing Betting Coups
Published by Racing Tours Ireland at May 8, 2015




THE NEARLY PERFECT PLOT – THE GAY FUTURE AFFAIR

The latest coup story we bring to you for your enjoyment is arguably the most infamous in betting folklore – the Gay Future coup of 1974. True estimates of the total amount landed have never been revealed, but figures of £100,000 to £300,000 are consistently rumoured – this would have ensured a payout of between €5m to €10m in today’s money. No wonder people look back fondly on it, and a film on it was produced in 1980 starring Niall Tobin as the brains behind the operation, Cork businessman Tony Murphy, and Pierce Brosnan as trainer Edward O’Grady – the name of the film? “Murphy’s Stroke”!




There are many humorous accounts of this great coup, but, appropriately enough, we are going refer to an account provided by The Cork Independant a couple of years back.

Enjoy!

This racing controversy, in 1974, absolutely stunned racegoers everywhere, and will be well remembered by all of you long-term punters out there, who can recall most of the cogent details regarding the affair, so, logically, I will be mainly aiming this survey at the present-day fraternity, who for one reason or another would be only guessing as to what really went on, in the convoluted lead-up to the betting coup, and the extraordinary aftermath, reports of which were indeed hitting the headlines for many days afterwards. I will be going over most of the important happenings that made the caper possible, and the totally unexpected turns that went on in this well organised event. No matter what final conclusions you will come to at the end of the article, there is no question but that this was one of the most amazing coups in betting history.

All of the best-laid plans in any venture have to be worked out to almost the final stroke, and this was very capably done by a consortium led by the Cork-based building contractor, Tony Murphy, who was aided and abetted by what one could call a hand-picked group of people, all of whom had some potent connection with the racing game, and with betting in particular. The publicity given to this group throughout the whole exciting episode was such that the general media christened the Tony Murphy-led team as “The Cork Mafia!”

The first part of the plan was to get the right horse, which the team very soon accomplished, buying a young horse out of the John Oxx stable for a bargain price of £6,000. This horse was named Gay Future, and soon he was sent to the Tipperary stable of Eddie O’Grady, to be trained with future races in mind.

Eventually, it was decided to send the horse across channel, by ship, to be trained by Tony Collins, a little known Scottish trainer, whose stable was at Troon. Now, this was where the second stage of the plan was then put into operation, for they didn’t send Gay Future, but a horse of similar colour and make-up etc, leaving Gay Future with O’Grady to get the expert training he required to make him ready for the coup attempt. The preparation of the rest of the plan took the best part of a year, until it was decided to make the attempt at the Cartmel meeting, in a hurdle race, on August Weekend, 1974.

In the weeks leading up to the Cartmel race, the real Gay Future was sent over to trainer Collins for his final preparation, and was kept under wraps, while Collins still presented the look-alike horse, whose form was negligible, to all callers as Gay Future. Now, at that time, Collins also had two other horses in his stable, Opera Cloak and Ankerwyke, both of whom were to become an intricate part of the whole escapade. When the Gay Future entry at Cartmel was confirmed, Collins also entered the other two horses in different races around the country, with all three horses down to run on the same day. All of the ingredients were now in place to complete the mission.

Cartmel was regarded as ideal for their purpose, for, at that time this course was not covered by the “blower”, which is the direct link between the course and the betting shops, and made it a sitting duck for the coming betting coup.

The “Cork Mafia” then got busy, on the morning of the race, to organise their forces for the assault on the off-course bookmakers with their bets, which also had an interesting twist about them. The system was that all three horses in every bet would be covered in combinations of doubles and trebles, which ensured that if Opera Cloak and Ankerwyke were non-runners, that all of the money would then go on to Gay Future, making it imperative for him to win if they were to pull off the coup. Their representatives at the Cartmel track were instructed not to back Gay Future in any way in the betting ring, which of course caused the horse’s price to drift, until it stood at an amazing 10/1.

To further ensure that the price would drift out, one of the stable’s employees procured a large bucket, which he filled with water, and then added a couple of fistfulls of soap flakes to it. He then stirred it up until he produced a nice foamy mixture, and before taking the horse into the parade ring before the race he proceeded to coat the horses neck and front parts with the foamy liquid, to give the impression that Gay Future was sweating badly, to further discourage any of the other punters around the course from having any money on the horse. So now, all was in place to bring off what was later to be rated one of the betting coups of the century. The money was down, the horse was ready, and he now only had to win the race.

The announcement of, “The horses are now leaving the parade ring” rang out from the public address system at the Cartmel course on August Monday in 1974, and set in motion the final chapters in this very amazing betting coup.

On the way down to the start of the race, the Ulveston Hurdle, Gay Future’s jockey, Mr. TA (Timmy) Jones, who had arrived just about a half-hour before the race, was agreeably surprised as to just how well his mount had been prepared, and, by the look of what was against him, Jones, who was then one of the better riders in Ireland, felt very confident as to the eventual outcome.

At this stage of proceedings, all of the betting money was down, with the money spread over a wide area in England, in off-course bookies shops.

All of the stake money was put on by six hand-picked people, who had travelled around throughout the morning of the race, coupling up the three horses, Gay Future, Opera Cloak, and Ankerwyke, in bets of £5, £10, and £20, and confining their wagers to doubles and trebles. This, of course, effectively served to hide Gay Future from the prying eyes of anyone who would tweak as to what was going on. As for the other two horses, Opera Cloak was entered at Plumpton, while Ankerwyke was down to run at Southwell on the same day. The intentions of the coup was that these two horses would be withdrawn, leaving all of the stake money to go on to Gay Future, as per the rules of the time. Ah, the best laid plans!

It looked a near certainty that, on the course, Gay Future’s starting price would be returned at around 10/1, which made the returns very promising.

In the race, Gay Future took the lead early, and, jumping like a stag, made all the running to win easily, at the expected price of 10/1. All’s well, so far.

Of course, bookmakers didn’t come up in the last boat, for, during the morning, a few of them had noticed a distinct amount of bets involving the three horses, so, branches contacted branches, and the various main firms got into confab about the strange goings-on in the Cartmel betting ring.

Unfortunately, for them anyway, as there was no direct ‘blower’ contact with the course, any actions to soften the blow as regards their potential losses were much too late, for, in fact, as they say, the bird had flown right away!

The other two horses by this time had been withdrawn from their races, the excuse given being that their horse-box had broken down in transit, so the final pieces of the jigsaw were almost all in place, and all that needed to be done now was to collect the winnings. While the bookmakers felt that they had been hard done by, they appeared willing enough to take their beating, until an astute newspaper reporter, late on the same evening, very suspicious about the whole odd situation, decided to ring the trainer’s establishment in Scotland for some clarification on the withdrawals, and was told by a member of the household that the two horses involved had never left the yard all day.

This really put the cat among the pigeons, and became the first chink in the unravelling of the whole plot, which, bit by bit, began to fall around ‘The Cork Mafia’ like the proverbial deck of cards. Bookmakers, never slow to act, saw very quickly that the chance to put the clamps on any pay-out facilities was a very live possibility, so they moved with all speed to put up the shutters. This attitude was quickly adopted by bookmakers in general, although it was rumoured that one of them, who did pay out on the bets, allegedly said that, “This was all just a battle of wits, in which on this occasion I sadly lost!”

Naturally, and on account of the vast publicity given by the media to the whole event, an enquiry was bound to be held, in which Tony Murphy and Trainer Collins were charged with conspiring to defraud bookmakers. Both were found guilty by the jury, which was heard at the Preston Crown Court, and received a nominal fine, but were both warned off British racecourses for a ten year period. The sitting magistrate expressed himself full of admiration for the expert way in which the coup was carried out, for, although sometimes sailing very close to the wind, everything was completed in an exemplary manner, such as, the right horse ran, and all bets were paid on, well before the race. Coups like this are always known in the game as ‘Starting Price’ jobs, and are carried out fairly regularly throughout every season, with little or no repercussions from anybody in the higher echelons of racing. It must be remembered that not all coup attempts are successful, for it is reckoned that the vast majority of them fall by the wayside. One very cogent story did come out of the Gay Future affair, when, allegedly, a few bookies were asked the question of:- Would you have given back the stake money if Gay Future, seeing that it was a hurdle race, had fallen, or was in any other way beaten on the day? Well, the answer that came back was a resounding no, so, by virtue of this situation alone, the ‘Cork Mafia’ should have, without question, been paid every penny of their winnings. Sauce for both goose and gander!

We hope you enjoyed that great tale, and if you have any great tales of your own, feel free to contact us……….

[eaz35173]

Murphy's Stroke ... A new upload in case you haven't seen it ...

[rosafermu]

Many thanks

[mkelly]

The real Murphy's Stroke con is now 50 years ago so O'Grady (and PB) are back in the news.


Edward O'Grady on JP McManus, Pierce Brosnan and 50 years since his first Cheltenham winner

irishmirror.ie

March 11, 2024 Monday 3:16 PM GMT



Copyright 2024 Reach PLC All Rights Reserved

www.irishmirror.ie/sport/horse-racing/edward-ogrady-jp-mcmanus-pierce-32326116





Section: HORSE RACING; Version:1



Length: 2306 words



Byline: By, David Coughlan



Highlight: "It fuelled our ambition. It showed us that we could actually achieve something in this game."





Body

EDWARD O'Grady has never stopped believing, never stopped dreaming. And 50 years on from his first Festival winner, the dream remains the same.

"I've ambitions to have another winner at Cheltenham and I would still love to win a Champion Hurdle or Gold Cup. Or both. Absolutely," he says.

It's been a while since he was centre stage at Cheltenham, but with No Flies On Him he might finally have a horse to make some of those dreams come true in the future.

"If I go to bed dreaming... well, this horse No Flies On Him has a lot of things to do for me in the next number of years!" says the 74-year-old.

O'Grady is not one for looking back, but the former champion trainer does have two big anniversaries this year - one he's happy to talk about and one he's never talked about.

It's 50 years since O'Grady landed his first Festival winner with Mr Midland when he was just 24 and still finding his way in the world as a trainer.

It's also 50 years since the Gay Future affair, a roguish betting coup that made front-page headlines for months, saw him arrested in Cheltenham during Festival week and led to a movie starring Pierce Brosnan as O'Grady.


"He certainly did better out of the movie than me, that's for sure," he says, laughing. But more of that later.


It's a sunny Wednesday morning in early February and O'Grady's in his kitchen, sitting down to a breakfast of porridge and toast with tea. He pours honey onto a plate, then carefully distributes it onto the bread.

The kitchen is quiet, but life is busy, the way he likes it. O'Grady has five children; Jonathan, Amber and Lucy from his first marriage to Judy and Mimi and Rosie Mae from his second marriage to Maria.

The youngest, Rosie Mae, is studying for the Leaving this year and O'Grady has stood her down from competitive riding until the exams are out of the way.

On the wall beside him are framed photos of his 18 Cheltenham Festival winners - starting in the 1974 National Hunt Chase. The colours are slightly faded now from sunlight through the kitchen window and Mouse Morris, the young jockey in the photo, hasn't jumped a fence in anger for a while either. But for O'Grady, it doesn't seem all that long ago. Certainly not half a century.

"Yes, I suppose it is hard to believe," he says. "Cheltenham was different in those days. It wasn't the hoo-ha it is now. It was a lovely meeting in those days.

"The horse was owned by a gentleman called Barney Naughton, who I think was one of my father's first owners. It was very exciting, it was a good start."


O'Grady had taken over the yard after his father Willie's premature death in January 1972 and went from being a veterinary student with a £300 overdraft to running a business with staff to pay and owners to keep happy. "I wish I had a £300 overdraft now!" he says, laughing.


O'Grady was married just 20 days before his father's death, when he was thrown into a new life as a trainer and businessman. 

"I had a wife, a widowed mother and about six or seven employees. Yes, it was a baptism of fire," he says.

"I certainly hadn't intended to train as early as that. I would've liked to have finished my veterinary studies, maybe gone around the world a bit, but... that wasn't to be.

"In life you play the cards you've got. Make the best of them. So that's what I tried to do."


In 1974 he sent his first runner to Cheltenham for the National Hunt Chase and came back with his first winner in Mr Midland. O'Grady points at the picture of the horse on the wall.


"He had a head on him like a fiddle case, it was that length," says O'Grady, holding out his arms.

"He'd plough a hole in a fence, he just didn't have a care. That's why we had blinkers on him on the day.

"But I'm very grateful to him and to the Mouse for delivering him. And to Barney Naughton for having him with me.

"It fuelled our ambition. It showed us that we could actually achieve something in this game, which was marvellous."


It proved a momentous day for young Irish trainers with Jim Dreaper and Paddy Osborne also saddling winners that Tuesday afternoon in March 1974.

O'Grady looks at Tom MacGinty's report for the Irish Independent from the following day. Remarkably there are no quotes from O'Grady after his breakthrough win. 

"We didn't get much publicity did we" he says, smiling. 
But the win did establish O'Grady as a trainer in his own right and attracted new owners to the County Tipperary yard.

"I wouldn't say people were queuing up, but oh God it certainly did, without a shadow of a doubt," he says.


A few months later, on the August Bank Holiday weekend in Britain, O'Grady made headlines again. This time with a horse called Gay Future and a story full of divelment that has long since become part of horse racing folklore.


For a quick recap...

The stroke was masterminded by a man named Tony Murphy, a flamboyant builder from Cork.

Murphy set out to exploit the limited communication links between off-course bookmakers and one of the smallest tracks in Britain on one of the busiest betting days of the year - and using a very good horse for an unheralded trainer.

Cartmel was the track and Gay Future was the horse.

Unknown to all but a very select few, Gay Future was actually being quietly prepared in Tipperary by O'Grady to run for Troon-based permit holder Tony Collins.

Gay Future duly romped home at 10-1 to the consternation of the bookmakers. They cried foul and the roguery soon ran aground, leading to arrests, controversy and a movie starring Brosnan and Niall Tóibín.


O'Grady says he is asked about it by journalists "annually", but hasn't spoken about it since it happened in 1974 and is reluctant to start now.

"No I haven't... and I still don't intend to," he says.


He has, however, seen Murphy's Stroke where he's played by the future James Bond and recalls two of racing's most respected journalists meeting him to research the film.

"Brough Scott and John Oaksey, they came here and spent some time to research it," he says.


"I've seen it and I've enjoyed it. Pierce Brosnan, he and his wife subsequently had a horse in training with me, just after he made that movie, although I never met him.

"I think my older kids were perfectly happy with the film. I think my younger children... they were a bit aghast at the whole thing!"


So what about Brosnan's portrayal of O'Grady Is it accurate - "I have no idea. I have no idea," he says, smiling. "He portrayed a trainer, that's all I know. And the boy did it well."


The real fallout was no laughing matter at the time. Most British bookmakers refused to pay out and a police investigation was launched.

In almost cinematic fashion O'Grady was even arrested in the Queen's Hotel on the first day of the 1975 Cheltenham Festival. He was then brought to Cumbria to appear in court the following morning, before taking a helicopter back to Cheltenham where he had runners at the Festival.


"Well it was no fun being arrested on the high street to appear in court the next morning, to then come down by helicopter to the races in - I suppose the word at the time would be - infamy," he says, shaking his head. 

"But the awful thing was that I ran the favourite, a horse called Kilmakilloge, the next day. 
"We ran this hot favourite and he ran diabolical and both the Mouse and I were convinced the horse was nobbled.

"I've never said that before, but we were convinced. It sort of added pain to the proceedings."  


O'Grady was cleared of any wrongdoing and the daring gamble has even been officially celebrated by Cartmel Racecourse in recent years. But at the time he feared the story and negative press could halt his training career just as it was getting started.


Prolan eased those fears with a hugely significant Cheltenham win a year later. He pours some tea and nods at the picture of Ted Walsh on the horse after winning the 1976 Kim Muir.

"To go from despair to being back in the winners' enclosure, which was something I considered might never happen again, that was brilliant," he says.

"Ted Walsh gave him a superb ride. That was a very important win, absolutely."


Rusty Tears gave him another Festival winner in 1977 with victory in the old Cathcart Chase and then came Golden Cygnet, the horse of a lifetime, but sadly, a superstar that got away.

He was red-hot favourite for the 1978 Supreme Novices' Hurdle after stirring performances at home and flew up the Cheltenham hill to win the race by an astonishing 15 lengths.

"He was a freak. I think all brilliant people, sport stars and racehorses are freaks. He was one of them," he says. Sadly the horse didn't get the chance to fulfil his potential, falling in the Scottish Champion Hurdle just weeks later and never recovering. "It wasn't easy," he says.


The phone rings. O'Grady answers. Another lot are ready to be worked. He grabs his coat and hat and heads outside. Birds are cawing as he issues instructions to his work riders. One of his dogs hops into the back seat of his car.  

No Flies On Him, the new "jewel" in his yard, runs in the famous green and gold colours of his good friend JP McManus. It's a friendship that stretches back to the late 1970s when he first trained Jack Of Trumps for the Limerick man. O'Grady provided the first Festival winner for McManus with Mr Donovan in 1982 and for a very short time, he was his riding supervisor too when the owner briefly rode at his yard.


"I think he was fortunate that he was better at everything else," says O'Grady, smiling.

"We were all very young and carefree in those days, life was different. We were young and carefree and prepared to take chances.

"We gave it a fair old swing, we never thought about the downfalls of anything, it was always just the pluses and the fun.

"JP is braver than a lion. He never let winning or losing affect how he behaved.

"He always had a great saying, you only have to win 51 per cent of the time, which is tough, but it's probably true.

"He bought Jack Of Trumps on the phone and we've become, I would hope, very good friends, confidantes ever since."


O'Grady found the friendship and support of McManus particularly comforting after the death of his wife Maria in 2017.

"Yes, he was. He was absolutely brilliant. Terribly kind to me," he says. "As were my neighbours John Magnier, people like that. We're still a pretty close-knit community, that's for sure. Of course they were, they just helped."


The couple were married for 18 years and O'Grady was first on the scene following a tragic riding accident. He is still dealing with the grief, still taking each day as it comes.

"It was an incredibly tough time, particularly with my two young daughters," he says.

"They're great girls, they've been fantastic. They're very supportive to me."


For a long time, O'Grady was Ireland's most successful trainer at Cheltenham, regularly taking home big prizes from the Cotswolds. He switched to the Flat for a period in the 1980s, before returning to Cheltenham in 1994 with two Festival winners Muckelmeg and Time For A Run to kickstart another golden period. Ventana and Loving Around added to his tally in 1996 and then came Nick Dundee in 1999, another superstar that got away. Such was his ability there were suggestions throughout the winter of 1999 that he would run in the Gold Cup as a novice.


In the end, connections decided on the more traditional route and the horse was cruising in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, well clear of the field with Looks Like Trouble, when suffering a crashing fall.

He was never the same again. 

"It was tough to take," he says.

"He wasn't any daisy cutter, he was just a brilliant National Hunt horse. I'd like to think that he had the beating of the subsequent Gold Cup winner Looks Like Trouble that day. So, yes, that was tough."

Norman Williamson was on board that afternoon and O'Grady shared many of his greatest days at the Festival with the Cork-born rider - notably Back In Front in the 2003 Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

And last October O'Grady gave Williamson's son Josh his first winner on what proved to be an emotional occasion.


"That was a great day for Norman and his wife Janet and Josh," says O'Grady.

"Josh had been competing all summer with my daughter Rosie Mae. They're great friends and they'd been riding in Bumpers together and teasing each other as to who would ride the first winner.

"Rosie Mae is doing her Leaving this year and once school term started I wouldn't let her ride.

"She was thrilled for Josh, but of course, jealous of the fact that Josh beat her to it.

"It added insult to injury the fact that I gave him the ride!

"But I had great days with Norman. He's a wonderful judge and a very good friend. It gave me a great thrill to provide the winner, which happened more by accident than design, but was just one of those nice things."


On the gallops, at his Ballynonty yard, the last lot have completed their work. O'Grady drives back to the farmhouse. No Flies On Him will not to run this week after defeat at Punchestown a few weeks later on unsuitable ground. But time is on his side and O'Grady's in no rush with the talented five-year-old. He knows what can happen and is under no illusions about the competition the horse will face from the yards of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott when the time comes.


"I think the fact there isn't more opposition is not healthy for racing. But I think it's up to trainers to create that competition," he says.

"It's not easy to go about it, but the only way of tackling it is to take it on.

"No Flies is the jewel in the crown and there just hasn't been a jewel here for far too long. It gives the whole yard a buzz.

"Unlike some of the boys I don't have five or six spare wheels... If I get a puncture I'm banjaxed.

"But fingers crossed he stays sound and he stays healthy. That we're able to keep the dream alive." 

Some 50 years after that first Cheltenham winner that message hasn't changed. O'Grady is still looking forward, still looking for the next winner.

Still living the dream.



Edward O'Grady on JP McManus, Pierce Brosnan and 50 years since his first Cheltenham winner