{"product_id":"9780733632532","title":"High Stakes: The rise of the Waterhouse dynasty","description":"\u003cb\u003e'This history of the Waterhouse dynasty is a cut above the field of racing books that burst from the barriers this time of year' - \u003ci\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDrama, glamour, scandal, success - and very high stakes. The story of Australia's best known horse racing family has it all.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen it comes to racing, the name most Australians associate with the racetrack is Waterhouse. This is their compelling story.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eHigh Stakes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e takes us from Bill Waterhouse's introduction to the world as a sixteen-year-old, working as a bookmaker for his father in the late thirties - going on to make money both on and off the track - to the headlines caused by his involvement in the notorious Fine Cotton affair in the eighties.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt examines his son Robbie's rise as a respected bookie and a knowledgeable judge of horses, to his spectacular fall, as a result of that same Fine Cotton affair, which led to a life ban from involvement in the racing industry. While the ban was lifted in 2001, he keeps a low profile these days. As Kennedy reveals, the same cannot be said of Robbie's wife, Gai, daughter of the legendary horse trainer TJ Smith. In a male-dominated world, she has gone on to rival her father as one of Australia's best trainers, training horses for a star-studded clientele that has ranged from John Singleton to the Queen of England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet as \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eHigh Stakes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e shows, the scandal aside, the marriage between Gai and Robbie was always going to be problematic.  As the \u003ci\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e put it: 'It's not that the Smiths and the Waterhouses were necessarily the Capulets and the Montagues but the country's leading trainer and the world's biggest bookmaker were hardly natural kinsfolk either.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite an already colourful history, when their son, Tom, stepped into the family business and became one of the best-known and most controversial bookies the country had ever seen, Kennedy describes how the dramas for the Waterhouse dynasty were only just beginning...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the book for anyone who wants to know the inside story of contemporary Australian horse racing, a world where premiers and millionaires rub shoulders with gangsters and girls with fancy hats. It's a world of passion, action - and very high stakes.","brand":"Hachette Australia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47106489450736,"sku":"9780733632532","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780733632532_p0.jpg?v=1763627062","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780733632532","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}