Horse racing looks set to turn to west Wales after almost 80 years

Fans of the turf have lost out since a 1927 gaming scandal made the name "Tenby Races" a dirty word among bookies and eventually forced the town's race course out of business.

A Pembrokeshire man who spent almost 30 years researching a book on the gambling fix has now sold the rights to the story to a film production company.

The deal comes as planners in neighbouring Carmarthenshire look set to approve �16m plans to turn a former opencast mine into a horse racing centre of excellence.

They won a fortune but it ruined the racecourse Richard Lawrence

Former landlord and writer Richard Lawrence backed a winner when he became fascinated with the infamous tale of a horse called Oyster Maid.

His research into how a group of Tenby-based punters, jockeys and horse trainers accidentally won far more money from a fixed race than they ever thought possible has been praised by the king of racing fiction, Dick Francis.

And his book, The Rise and Fall of Tenby Races, published in March, has caught the eye of UK firm which wants to turn it into a film and had paid him an undisclosed sum.

"The scandal was the biggest betting coup ever in history of the turf. The race was fixed to raise some money for a jockey who had broken his back," said Mr Lawrence, from Brecon.

"On the day, a snow storm came in off the sea and the bookies couldn't communicate with each other and see that there were all these bets going on Oyster Maid.

The Ffos Las former opencast site could soon see horse racing

"The group bet small to win big but the odds stayed the same on Oyster Maid at 100-6 and the whole thing exploded in their faces. They won a fortune but it ruined the racecourse."

The Oyster Maid affair is reputed to have landed the participants more than �1m - an unbelievable sum at the time.

Mr Lawrence has welcomed the recommendation for Carmarthenshire planners to approve proposals for the 608-acre former Ffos Las mine site at Trimsaran, near Llanelli.

Developers plan to create a one mile five furlong all-weather track with which to attract punters from Ireland's thriving racing industry.

The project includes plans for flat, hurdle and steeplechase race as well as hotel and training facilities.

Wales has two other tracks, at Chepstow in Monmouthshire and Bangor-on-Dee near Wrexham.

Carmarthenshire planners decide on the Ffos Las project on Thursday.