Racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse's husband, Robbie, has a financial stake in the bookmaking empire of their son, Tom, that is at the centre of a conflict of interest row with advertising mogul John Singleton.
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Company documents show that Robbie Waterhouse, who was warned off racecourses until 1998 over the Fine Cotton horse substitution scandal in 1984, is a director of two companies within the complex corporate web that owns Tom Waterhouse's bookmaking operation.
Mr Singleton removed his horses from Gai Waterhouse's stables on Sunday after verbally lashing the Waterhouse family in a post-race TV interview following the poor showing of his champion mare More Joyous on Saturday.
"When Gai's son knows last night what the result will be today, there's a conflict of interest," Mr Singleton told Channel Seven.
“I heard from her son that she's [More Joyous] got problems I don't know about.”
Mr Waterhouse has denied any wrongdoing and announced he is considering launching defamation action against Mr Singleton.
Records held by corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show that Tom Waterhouse NT, which is licensed as a bookmaker in the Northern Territory, is run by Tom Waterhouse and Louise Waterhouse, Robbie Waterhouse's sister.
The company is owned by Tom and Louise Waterhouse and two companies, Wunderkid and Torolo.
Torolo is owned by Tom, Louise and Robbie Waterhouse, who are also the company's directors.
In turn, Torolo owns a stake in Wunderkid, which is also run by Tom, Louise and Robbie Waterhouse.
Along with her father Bill Waterhouse, who was also warned off racecourses over the Fine Cotton scandal, Louise Waterhouse is an honorary consul to Australia of tiny South Pacific kingdom Tonga.
While company documents record her last name as Waterhouse, she also uses the surname Raedler-Waterhouse following her marriage to Guenther Raedler.
Both Bill and Robbie Waterhouse denied any involvement in the Fine Cotton affair, in which fast-running horse Bold Personality was substituted for the slow Fine Cotton.
However, the ruse was discovered when paint on the horse's leg, needed because Fine Cotton had white markings on his hind legs, began to run after Bold Personality won the race.
In 2002 Bill Waterhouse was granted a new bookmaker's license and began training Tom Waterhouse in the family trade.