{xtypo_dropcap}T{/xtypo_dropcap}he win of Rocket Racer in the 1987 Perth Cup remains the most controversial event the racing world in Western Australia has seen.

Rocket Racer was ridden by John Miller, one of the best riders to come out of the West, and although he usually rode at about 54 kilograms, he got down to 48 for the Perth Cup. With Miller merely steering, Rocket Racer led all the way to win by nine lengths in near-record time for the 3200 metres.

As Miller and Rocket Racer returned to scale, they were both near collapse, Miller because of his weakened state due to wasting, while the reasons for Rocket Racer's condition were considered far more sinister. Popular belief was that Rocket Racer never raced again after the Perth Cup. In fact, he ran again nearly four weeks later, finishing fourth in the Queen's Cup, won by Travel Light.

It was after that race that Rocket Racer, while spelling, died in unknown circumstances.

“When they bet 50 to 1 eight weeks ago I couldn’t believe my good luck and took it at that, as well as the 9 to 4 they bet today. Not so good for the bookies, very good for me,” owner Laurie Connell said after the race.

Connell collected a reported half a million dollars in bets, "shouted" the members' deck in the grandstand free drinks for the rest of the afternoon and the party continued into the night at the Mediterranean Restaurant, one of the most fashionable in Perth at that time.

Leading bookmaker Bob Howat has painful memories of the day.

“I paid heavily for that win,” he ruefully recalls. “While they were spending my hard earned at the Mediterranean I was on the foreshore eating fish and chips.”

President of the Western Australian Bookmakers Association, Howat swung the bags for almost four decades, and had many a tale to tell of the turf and it’s characters, the good times and the bad times, but it was his football achievements that brought him to the attention of Ozfooty.

An outstanding junior, Bob Howat was robbed of almost certain star status by crippling injury, only having virtually two seasons of full fitness with West Perth.

He was recruited by South Melbourne as a seventeen year old before even playing a game with the Cardinals, along with John Wynne, Austin Robertson and Ray Lucev, but, unable to get a clearance, returned home.

A Tuart Hill junior, Howat played State Schoolboys football in 1960 and 61, the latter as captain, and in that year was runner up for fairest and best at the carnival, playing in the centre and at half forward. An East Perth supporter who lived in West Perth’s zone, he went to Leederville in 1966, after the disappointing sojourn in Melbourne, and following one reserves game debuted against the Royals, quickly becoming a permanent fixture in the side, as a wingman or half forward.

West Perth reached the preliminary final in that year, only to be bundled out by the Royals in a game that turned the young Howat’s football career on it’s head. A knee injury just before quarter time of the big game despatched him to St John Of God’s Hospital. “It never got right,” he lamented. The leg became wilted as a result, and other injuries the following season combined to ruin a year that should have been one of consolidation for the nineteen year old.

Although losing a yard of pace as a result, Howat recovered to continue with West Perth as a wingman, but it was new coach Graham Farmer who offered him a lifeline in 1971.

“I’d like you to give defence a go,” he said. “Give it a crack.”

Howat became a rejuvenated player running off a half back flank, his deft reading of the play, ability to sum up a situation, awareness, and precise delivery a feature of his play. West Perth went on to premiership glory that year, and the reborn Howat was a key ingredient.

Bob was developing a keen interest in the horse racing industry, and at the end of the 1972 season weighed up the options. “I had a wonky leg, was approaching twenty five, and looking clinically at the form guide, reckoned I’d be better off looking at other engagements,” he said.

Howat retired from league football just one game short of a hundred.

Concentrating on a new career as a bookmaker, Bob took on the coaching of Sunday League club, Wanneroo in 1974. The club had finished out of the four in the previous two years, and lost the first three of 1974, but recovered to reach the grand final. With twelve minutes remaining in the bog one, the game looked to be in Wanneroo’s keeping, but a couple of controversial umpiring decisions saw it slip through their fingers.

The Roos went one better the following year, winning the flag, and were runners up in the last two years of Howat’s tenure as playing coach. But the groundwork had been laid, and the club won the next six in a row, Bob remaining as a player in two of them.

Two years later, he was approached by Toodyay, whose coach had left. The club won only one game in 1979, but, with Howat staying on the following season, won the flag. Teaming up with John Wynne at West Perth in 1985 and 86, he returned to Toodyay in 1992, losing two consecutive grand finals to Goomalling.

Bob Howat was a self confessed football and sporting “nut.” He analysed form on the football field with the same meticulous method he did the horses. And Bob had a gripe that would be echoed by thousands of footy fans: “Footy is the only ball game in the world where a player is immediately taken from the ground as soon as he kicks a goal. A bloke who has just kicked a goal is on a high, why break the momentum? Do you replace a jockey for the next race if he wins the previous one?”

“I count myself very lucky to have been involved throughout my life with great people,” he added. “From the State Schoolboys with the talent we had in Hobart to my days at West Perth and the terrific times I enjoyed, the years at Wanneroo and Toodyay, and the many outstanding people I have met in the racing industry.”

The Howats are steeped in football, wife Dianne being the daughter of East Fremantle legend and WAFL Hall of Fame member Merv Cowan. Both their sons played the game at a lower level.

Hardest opponents for Bob were Perth’s Greg Brehaut, East Perth defender Ken McAullay, and Greg Saunders from East Fremantle, while Graham “Polly” Farmer was best he played with.

Prevented by injury from realising the potential he showed as a junior, Bob Howat was nevertheless a good solid player for West Perth, especially in 1971. The memories of his dashing clearances from half back stay with many West Perth supporters, as does the run down the Ascot straight from Rocket Racer sixteen years later with racegoers, but it’s not one that Bob enjoyed.