'It was for more than the craic. It was for the money' - 50 years on, the Gay Future gambling coup is no less extraordinary

Half a century on, the story has lost none of its appeal.

A novice hurdle run on the August bank holiday Monday 50 years ago remains the most famous contest ever staged at Cartmel. The name of its winner, Gay Future, is synonymous with sporting skulduggery of the highest order. 

This is his story. It is also the story of a band of brothers nicknamed the Cork Mafia, a mysterious amateur rider, a superstar trainer, a kindly judge and an embryonic James Bond. There is considerable cunning, a disastrous cock-up, courtroom drama, a man in drag and a spin-off movie that featured an English trainer pretending to be an Irish jockey. Linking it all is a partially successful gambling coup that has become the stuff of legend.