Dead ringer in the horse barn

Tamworth horse barnMost people think that a dead ringer is an exactly look-alike of someone, but the history of the term is more than this. Back in the day people would choose a less thoroughbred horse to pass off as a horse of high pedigree, in other words, it was an exact look alike. My friend and I realised we could use this little trick to our advantage… and not just for show ponies. The first step in our operation was to hire a company who do commercial sheds in Tamworth. That way we could perform our devious little scheme under the cover of darkness.

What we did was target the racing horse that was projected to win the races later that month. Then we sources a dead ringer of that horse, one of lesser breeding and training. We kept him hidden in our newly build barn. The plan was going perfectly.

On the day of the race made sure to wait until after the jockey had taken his horse out for one last trot, and then we surreptitiously swapped the “winner” for the dead ringer horse. Nobody suspected a thing…

My mate and I watched as the races started. We’d made our bets on a lesser known yet exemplary racing horse with extremely low odds. With the predicted winning horse coming second last in the race, our little ripper was tearing through the contenders towards the front of the line. He won with flying colours and we cashed in big time. It was a highly profitable operation to say the least.

We did have to fork out a bit of money to set up the switch. There was the horse barns in Tamworth, and of course, the price of the duplicate horse, but we did make a hefty profit in the end. I’m not sure if it’s something that I’d try again. We would have to wait a few years and perhaps try the scheme in another city, just in case someone notices.