Kilbeggan coup inspired by Dick Francis novel

IF THE betting coup at Kilbeggan on Monday evening read like something out of a Dick Francis novel, that's because it was. Article from our friends at the Racing Post

The extraordinary coup closely echoed a plot in Felix and Dick Francis's latest book Even Money, published in hardback last September and available in paperback on July 20, in which 30 ‘juvenile delinquents' are given strict instructions to go into different betting shops and place a £200 win bet on an outsider called Cricket Hero, who duly obliges, exactly five minutes before the off.

In mastermind Douglas Taylor's real-life version, 200 ‘runners', paid between €10 and €30, were instructed to place a €200 win bet on D Four Dave, part-owned by the managing director of the MCR Group, five minutes before the off of the Hurley Family Handicap Hurdle at 7.00.

All were given a letter which was obtained by the Irish Racing Post - with detailed instructions as to how to carry out the task and a watch to ensure all bets were placed at exactly the same time in separate betting shops around the Dublin and Kildare area.

"I wouldn't say it was months in the planning, weeks maybe," said Taylor yesterday, "but it was polished after reading Even Money.

"It didn't cost that much to organise. The watches were €6 each - and I'm hoping to flog those for €10 each soon. There were only five cars used with five lads supervising them.

"I got married on Saturday last and people were asking me was I nervous. I was telling them ‘yes' - but I meant I was nervous about Monday.

"The run-up to it was almost as exciting as anything else,there was a great buzz in the office. A big gang here were involved in programming the watches and writing out the betting slips."

The Conor O'Dwyer-trained D Four Dave was available at 14-1 on the morning of the great gamble andopened up at 7-1 on course, but was sent off at just 5-1 and galloped to an easy victory under Mark Walsh.

Taylor, from Cavan and living in Kilcloon in County Meath, continued: "The race itself couldn't have gone any better, it was like a dream. As Mark Walsh was being legged up I just told him that the lads had a few quid on each-way and not to be found wanting.

"He had reasonable form in point-to-points but he needed a step back up to three miles and not too strong competition. So the race was perfect for the job."

Even if all of the 200 runners had placed the €200 on the seven-length winner at SP, the winnings would have amounted to €200,000.

However, the vast majority of the 200 individuals employed to place the bets were foreign nationals, as the organisers sought to minimise the risk of information being leaked, and some could not read the instructions, while others tried to place the bet after the race had concluded.

Even with these hiccups, Taylor could yesterday confirm that the winning total was "not far off €200,000".

Poignantly, the tribute to Dick Francis's writing prowess came on the evening of his memorial service in London and his son Felix was delighted.

"I got the Racing Post primarily to read Alastair Down's report on my father's memorial service, but when I saw the front page I was amazed," said Francis, whose next book Crossfire hits the shops on September 2.

"I loved the story, especially as it was conducted on the same day as my father's service. I hope Douglas Taylor read the book, because it's straight out of those pages, except in the book the horse wasn't actually the horse it was a ringer, so I hope they've tested D Four Dave's DNA!"

This was not the first time a Francis novel has predicted the future. Felix Francis explained: "In Under Orders, the first of the books I really helped my father with, we had a three-time winner of the Gold Cupdropping down dead of a heart attack on the track and of course that is what later happened to Best Mate [Gold Cup winner 2003-2004, who died at Exeter in November 2005].

"Again in Even Money, when writing it a long time ago, I needed a way of killing off some parents and decided to have them die in an epidemic of swine flu and we all know what happened between the time of my writing it and it being published. My copy editor couldn't believe it. He said, ‘Why not write about a copy editor who wins the lottery next?'"