EPIC OF TURF
HOW GREAT FORTUNE WAS MISSED £150,000 IN GRASP How would you like to have a fortune of £150,000 practically within your grasp, and then have it rudely dashed from your hands? The very thought would give most a creepy feeling, but to Mr. J. T. Hackett, sen., It. was but another wager gone. Just another attempt to build up a colossal fortune frustrated when completion was in sight, comments a Sydney writer. Many of these reverses Mr. Hackett has suffered since the day he first took on the turf as a means of livelihood. You may ask what made this leviathan fielder turn to bookmaking for a living. The answer is: "Sheer necessity/’ Shrewd Judgment One would need something a little more substantial to get a footing in the betting ring these days, but in those days it was different. By dint of honest dealing, shrewd judgment, and a will that would not bend, he rose, until today the name of Hackett is a byword of the betting ring. But let us hark back to this fortune that was missed. It was in 1925, connected with the Doncaster Handicap and Sydney Cup. Backed Them Early In that year Mr. Hackett stepped in early and linked Brimming, in the Doncaster, with five horses in the Sydney Cup. They commenced with Lilypond and ended with Dialogue, and were the I first five horses past the post. But what j of Brimming? To those who knew, she was a moral j in the Doncaster. The night before the race she was backed down to favouritism. In the race she ran up to the leaders at the turn. The race was in her keeping. She was home on the bit. But then the mare broke down, and with this accident the fortune went. Son Carries On Recently Mr. Hackett, sen., lost his wife, and that was a bigger blow to him than any that mere fortune had the power to wield. No longer is there the same zest in the betting, and, j furthermore, he has a son well able to carry on the name with honour. Though Mr. Hackett is retiring from the field of betting, he leaves behind a name that is a guarantee of straight and honest dealing.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19300726.2.124
Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1034, 26 July 1930, Page 12
Word Count
380
EPIC OF TURF
Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1034, 26 July 1930, Page 12
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