Laurie Connell - Rocket Racer

In the 1987 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 favourite and was believed to have collected $500,000 from bookmakers as well as the $210,000 prizemoney for the win. After the race he shouted drinks for the members' bar for several hours.

The horse's performance and subsequent collapse and death of 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.