How ironic! As Gary Wiltshire, against all the odds, financial and physiological, makes it into his 70’s almost thirty years after being blown out of the water by Frankie Dettori’s seven-out-of-seven through-the-card feat at Ascot in 1996, his Italian nemesis is suing for bankruptcy.
Despite alleged earnings in the UK of £15 million, (and the rest! some might say) the former multiple UK champion jockey has now relocated to collect dollars from his share of rides and prizemoney, first in California and now in Florida. Meanwhile, a reassuringly relaxed Gary sits quietly in a comfy chair at Chelmsford races, doing what he’s always done, taking people’s bets and paying out with a smile when they win.
Everyone at the races knows Gary. You could hardly miss 37 stone of humanity in one body. Not that he’s that big anymore, just a cuddly 25 stone or so – maybe?
The inevitable question anyone marching up to him for the first time over the past 29 years has been about that day at Ascot and the £1.4 million it cost him. As he says: “Leaving me with two grand in my back pocket”. Those 10XL suits do have large pockets all round!
I was close to the action that day at Ascot when the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Fujiyama Crest had made all the running in the concluding Gordon Carter Handicap under 9st10lb, holding on by a neck from the Pat Eddery-ridden Northern Fleet, trained by Guy Harwood to whom he was conceding 18lb.
Seven out seven meant I would have to write an extra short chapter about the day, ascribing it to the jockey whose book, A Year in the Life of Frankie Dettori, was already in type. Not the computerised stuff you could change with a few taps on a keyboard as now, but real hot metal in lines of type.
We did it. Frankie “wrote” the additional words as he had the rest of the book. I got a mention along with other acknowledgments and that was that. To think a multiple champion, Mr Racing in the UK for so many years, could ever go skint. But then again, a similar fate has recently befallen Tour de France and Olymics cycling hero Sir Bradley Wiggins so, without being careful, even the heaviest earners in sport or elsewhere can be vulnerable.
Gary Wiltshire operates to a much more prosaic set of rules. “You owe money, you pay it back.” What isn’t generally known and certainly wasn’t to me, was that he hadn’t been struggling with the Dettori running-up liabilities as others were spectacularly so on the day, which I had always assumed he had.
The facts were these. True, Frankie had won all six races beforehand, but Gary hadn’t been drawn in to any significant degree. But, being a bookie second and a risk-taker first, he thought the top-weight should have been a 16/1 chance in the finale that day, as he had been overnight. The running-up situation meant he opened in the market at a very cramped 4/1. Let Gary tell the tale from there.
“I was looking at Fujiyama Crest and reckoned he was the 16/1 chance that he had been in the morning. I was convinced this visored horse would not win, especially under a big weight after his bad run when last but one in the Northumberland Plate.
“When the market opened, Fujiyama Crest was 4/1. Whereas the other layers were going 4/1, I shouted out 9/2. Ralphy Leveridge of Coral wasted no time with £40,000 at 9/2. Bet. ‘What price Fujiyama Crest now Gal?’ 4/1. ‘Twenty to win eighty.’ Bet. I shouted 7/2 ‘Forty to win 140.’ Then I took another fifty grand at 3/1. I was never going silly on the odds as I was shouting just the next price up, only the amount I was taking.
“And then of all people Stephen Little asked for £20k to £55k at 11/4 at which point I asked: ‘What the hell are you doing, Stephen, you should be laying this!’ He was known for cycling in to work, so much so that he called his book ‘From Bicycle to Bentley.’ I wanted to call him to say ‘get on yer bike’ but the bet was struck and he just walked away. When I got round to paying him, he even charged me £4.60 for his stamped-addressed envelopes on his statements. He was a very good bookmaker.
“I couldn’t stop myself and it kept going on and on. Had the race been delayed for even five minutes, I dread to think how much more I would have done. I wasn’t financed by anyone, contrary to some suggestions, I was just playing with my own money.”
Gary ended up in a bit of a haze, but one of the funniest moments in the book came a little later that evening. He drove straight on from Ascot to Milton Keynes dogs – the non-stop betting merry-go-round continued for Gary. As he arrived just before the second race, his son Nicky told him. “Dad, we’ve made a bad start – we lost £17 on the first race!”
Perhaps the most appealing part of his story was how quickly he earned the money to pay back every penny of the £1.4 million – all the result of a wrong opinion and nobody else’s fault. Others would do well not to try to blame their advisers for their downfall.
Gary speaks very highly of Fred Done of Betfred and the ubiquitous Barry Hearn and how their connections with him, providing him with regular work, kept him going so well for so long.
Of course, this book is not just about Dettori Day. Wiltshire’s 50-year career has spanned the racecourse, greyhound tracks, point-to-points, the flaps, major sports arenas, especially darts, and even a fishing lake where he conducted his business, often as the sole bookie (groan - Ed.).
The book will appeal to punters with a strong sense of nostalgia (true for me, along with neuralgia!). Its readers who wish to be transported to the time when the betting ring (alas no more) was the beating heart of the racecourse will get their wish granted. It’s a warts-and-all follow up to his first book Winning It Back, published in 2011. I’ll have to find a copy after reading its highly entertaining successor.
It’s a slight stretch to call someone from Islington an Eastender, but then Dagenham-born Terry Ramsden also describes himself thus, so we’ll allow him that one (just). <Even Hackney doesn’t really count Gary.>
As co-author, the vastly-experienced Paul Jones says: “In these 15 chapters, there is tale after tale, broken down into a series of five or six betting-related stories” – most with a near life-or-death (or rather penury) potential outcome. “Read this entertaining book and be prepared for more than a few surprises”.
You’re not wrong there, Paul.
Fifty Years In The Betting Jungle, confessions of an on-course Bookie, Gary Wiltshire with Paul Jones. Published by Weatherbys Limited in conjunction with Gary Wiltshire, £19.95.
- TS
Gary Wiltshire – top man.
I’ve got his autobiography ‘Winning It Back’ autographed by the big man at Central Park in the days when he was one of the Sky Sports presenters for their open race greyhound coverage. Haven’t seen him for years.
Nigel
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