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Laurie Connell AI simulator
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Laurie Connell AI simulator
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Laurie Connell
Lawrence Robert "Laurie" Connell (2 April 1946 – 27 February 1996) was a Western Australian business entrepreneur. As chairman of the Rothwells merchant bank, he was well known for his dealings with the Government of Western Australia and his close relationships with a former premier of Western Australia, Brian Burke, and with entrepreneur Alan Bond, during the WA Inc period in the mid to late 1980s.
Laurie Connell was the grandson of a long-serving Western Australia Police Commissioner, Robert Connell (1867–1956) commissioner 1913–1933.
In 1994, Connell was jailed for conspiring to pervert the course of justice by paying a jockey to leave the country.
Connell was reportedly warned off by stewards in 1975 for involvement in a betting scam at the Kalgoorlie races. Despite that, he became well connected in the Perth racing establishment and, in 1984, he sought election to a position on the committee of The Western Australian Turf Club, with the support of the committee's retiring chairman Sir Ernest Lee-Steere.
At the January 1983 AHA Cup in Bunbury, jockey Danny Hobby jumped from his mount Strike Softly. Hobby later claimed he jumped after accepting a bribe of $5,000 from Connell to do so.
Almost a decade later, it was alleged that Hobby was paid over $1 million by Connell to travel around the world for several years to avoid returning to Australia and facing an inquiry. Ultimately Hobby did return and Connell was tried and sentenced to five years jail for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice during the investigation into the horse race. Hobby received a three-year term. Found not guilty of fixing the race, Connell served one year of his sentence in jail before being released.
In the 1987 3,200 -metre (two-mile) Perth Cup, Connell's horse Rocket Racer, ridden by leading Western Australian jockey J. J. Miller, won the race by nine lengths and couldn't be pulled up, doing nearly another lap of the course. Connell had backed the horse, initially at long odds, down to a 2/1 favouritism, and was believed to have collected $500,000 from bookmakers, as well as the $210,000 prize money for the win.
The horse's performance, and subsequent collapse and death from unknown causes a few weeks later, was never fully investigated or explained, although it is generally assumed that it had been injected with etorphine ("elephant juice"). Rocket Racer was trained by Buster O'Malley, but another Connell-owned horse trained by George Way, had tested positive to etorphine a few weeks earlier, which had led to a long disqualification for Way.
Laurie Connell
Lawrence Robert "Laurie" Connell (2 April 1946 – 27 February 1996) was a Western Australian business entrepreneur. As chairman of the Rothwells merchant bank, he was well known for his dealings with the Government of Western Australia and his close relationships with a former premier of Western Australia, Brian Burke, and with entrepreneur Alan Bond, during the WA Inc period in the mid to late 1980s.
Laurie Connell was the grandson of a long-serving Western Australia Police Commissioner, Robert Connell (1867–1956) commissioner 1913–1933.
In 1994, Connell was jailed for conspiring to pervert the course of justice by paying a jockey to leave the country.
Connell was reportedly warned off by stewards in 1975 for involvement in a betting scam at the Kalgoorlie races. Despite that, he became well connected in the Perth racing establishment and, in 1984, he sought election to a position on the committee of The Western Australian Turf Club, with the support of the committee's retiring chairman Sir Ernest Lee-Steere.
At the January 1983 AHA Cup in Bunbury, jockey Danny Hobby jumped from his mount Strike Softly. Hobby later claimed he jumped after accepting a bribe of $5,000 from Connell to do so.
Almost a decade later, it was alleged that Hobby was paid over $1 million by Connell to travel around the world for several years to avoid returning to Australia and facing an inquiry. Ultimately Hobby did return and Connell was tried and sentenced to five years jail for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice during the investigation into the horse race. Hobby received a three-year term. Found not guilty of fixing the race, Connell served one year of his sentence in jail before being released.
In the 1987 3,200 -metre (two-mile) Perth Cup, Connell's horse Rocket Racer, ridden by leading Western Australian jockey J. J. Miller, won the race by nine lengths and couldn't be pulled up, doing nearly another lap of the course. Connell had backed the horse, initially at long odds, down to a 2/1 favouritism, and was believed to have collected $500,000 from bookmakers, as well as the $210,000 prize money for the win.
The horse's performance, and subsequent collapse and death from unknown causes a few weeks later, was never fully investigated or explained, although it is generally assumed that it had been injected with etorphine ("elephant juice"). Rocket Racer was trained by Buster O'Malley, but another Connell-owned horse trained by George Way, had tested positive to etorphine a few weeks earlier, which had led to a long disqualification for Way.