A horde of punters rushed to the Rosehill public bar at the conclusion of the Golden Slipper in 2000, as word got around some rich bloke had put on a tab.
The vast majority of those pushing their way through the crowd to get a free beer were down on their luck, average punters, possibly looking for their first win of the day.
Once upon a time in his life, this scenario would have aptly described a young John Singleton.
An average punter, looking for a leg up.
Searching for a win.
But not in the year 2000.
By that stage in life, he was a successful businessman that had more money than he knew what to do with, and he spent a portion of his wealth owning racehorses.
Trained by the knockabout character Clarry Connors, owned in partnership with Singo’s good friend Gerry Rose and former beer sculling Prime Minister Bob Hawke, was Belle De Jour, who lined up in the rich two-year-old feature.
Just before the race, Singleton walked up to his mate Colin Tidy, an on-course bookmaker, and after admitting he didn’t have any cash, asked if he could have fifth-placed prize money on his filly at 10-1.
Knowing he was good for it, Tidy took the $100,000 bet to win a million.
A few seconds after the barriers opened, the money was as good as Colin’s as Belle De Jour “bungled the start”, almost dismounted jockey Lenny Beasley, seemingly dashing her chances.
In one of the most improbable scenarios in the race’s history, the daughter of Dehere was last rounding the turn, Beasley had no choice but to weave a passage through the field to give his filly a chance.
Everywhere that Beasley steered was the right choice.
Her rivals parted like the red sea, and the filly, having just her fourth career start, responded like she knew that the entire Rosehill crowd’s afternoon of drinking was at her peril.
John Singleton made a fortune in advertising by using a different approach in language and branding during the 60s, and he certainly reached his intended audience post race.
Every punter at Rosehill that afternoon was aware that Singo and Hawkey’s horse had just won the Slipper.
In an interview with John Tapp in the crazy aftermath of the race, hat backwards and eyes glazed over, Singo declared “free piss all night in the public bar. No members allowed.”
It is not only one of the most remarkable wins ever seen on an Australian race course, but one of the most popular because of that quote.