"Ringer" horse Fine Cotton dead!

Notorious 'ringer' horse Fine Cotton dead

Australia: Fine Cotton, the racehorse at the centre of one of Australian racing's biggest scandals nearly 25 years ago, has died.

Queensland's racing community was rocked by a notorious ringer case when a horse disguised as Fine Cotton won a 1m event at Brisbane's Eagle Farm on August 18, 1984.

Fine Cotton was an average performer - but he was substituted with an open-class galloper Bold Personality.

The syndicate who were involved in the scam painted Bold Personality's legs white to resemble Fine Cotton, but soon after the race, alarm bells starting ringing and the ‘ring-in' - to use the Aussie parlance - rumour swept like wildfire over the course.

The perpetrators, including high-profile Sydney bookmakers Bill and Robbie Waterhouse - husband of Gai Waterhouse, later to become one of the most celebrated figures in Aussie racing as a trainer - plus scam mastermind John Gillespie and trainer Hayden Haitana, were all uncovered and warned off for many years.

Movie producer John Stainton bought Fine Cotton a year after the scandal.

"He was the third most well-known horse in Australia in the 1980s," said Stainton.

"I bought the rights to the story in 1985 and bought Fine Cotton to star as himself in the movie. But it was a legal minefield and I had to shelve the plans."

Stainton said the 31-year-old gelding died from old age on Friday at his Brookfield property west of Brisbane