"For a while there ... he was probably the most famous person in Australia"
/Over the years on Max’s Island we have had many great storytellers … and I don’t want new listeners to the Island to miss out on some gems from the back catalogue.
Today we are revisiting the episode with Simon White and his involvement with the main character from the Fine Cotton racing affair. … not only because it’s a really good yarn … but also because next week is the 42nd anniversary of this famous part of Australian sporting folklore.
Simon is a veteran journalist who, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ring-in when he was a racing journo in South Australia, was tasked with tracking down the elusive trainer of Fine Cotton, Hayden Haitana—or "H," as his friends called him.
What started as a routine assignment turned into a deep, lasting friendship with a self-described "laid-back Maori" who had spent decades living on the fringes of society, carrying the can for a scheme that went far beyond him.
But the story doesn’t end there. Moved by H's plight, Simon did what no one else could do —he helped write the letter that ultimately got Hayden’s lifetime ban revoked in 2013, allowing him to finally walk back onto a racecourse legally and show his grandkids what he did for a living.
This is an incredible yarn of mateship, redemption, and the ghost of Eagle Farm. This is Simon White’s story about H.
