This is the story of a famous Irish trainer, of an English stockbroker who fancied himself as a trainer, of a businessman from Cork with a suitcase full of money, and of their attempt to pull off the greatest betting coup of all time. It involved two horses, both chestnut; not identical, but similar enough. And it all happened at a racecourse that looks like a fairground. A year of painstaking preparation went in to two minutes of frantic effort at Cartmel racecourse, in England, on the August bank holiday weekend of 1974. A horse called Gay Future carried the hopes of a colourful cast of characters, known affectionately as the ‘Cork Mafia,’ who had placed bets in betting offices all over London. They chose the busiest race day of the year with 10 race meetings taking place throughout the U.K. They picked Cartmel, a small Cumbrian track with no ‘blower’ – no connection between the bookies on-course and their colleagues in betting offices throughout the nation. And they pulled it off. Almost.