"There is one bloke in Macquarie Street who has been working his butt off and doing a damn good job in difficult circumstances, and this is the Primary Industries Minister - Ian Macdonald," enthused broadcaster Alan Jones about the now convicted criminal.
It was almost a decade ago and Jones' fulsome praise of the agriculture minister knew no bounds.
"I think you should be running the trains, the desalination plant and everything," he gushed.
The reason for the broadcaster's enthusiasm surrounded minister Macdonald's move to ensure that the Hunter Valley's wealthy horse studs weren't crippled by the equine influenza.
Jones was a part-owner of super stallion Redoute's Choice along with Jones' great mate John Messara, who owns Arrowfield stud in the Hunter Valley.
The previous month, August 2007, the estimated $6 million per annum stud fees generated by Redoute's Choice had been in jeopardy after the government imposed a lockdown on the movement of brood mares because of the EI crisis.
Jones' crusade about the potentially catastrophic effect on the breeding industry came to the attention of the ABC's Media Watch which pointed out that the broadcaster had a 4 per cent stake in Arrowfield's star sire, Redoute's Choice.
"The stallion is a phenomenon - over the next 10 years it's estimated he could earn half a billion dollars. Every time he 'covers' a mare, Redoute's Choice earns his owners $330,000.
"So could it be, Alan Jones' interest in getting the horses moving was more than a detached concern for the industry?" posed Media Watch host Paul Barry.
Later that same year, when Macdonald indicated he was travelling overseas during the Christmas break, Mr Messara, who recently retired as chairman of Racing NSW, was happy to help the minister. The prominent breeder contacted Emirates Airlines, which happened to be totally owned by Dubai's Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
The Sheikh also owns Darley, one of Australia's largest horse studs, which, like Arrowfield, had benefited by Macdonald's decisions during the outbreak of EI.
In 2010, the Herald revealed Macdonald had secretly accepted Emirates upgrades worth $30,000 for his party of four. Caught lying about this, Macdonald was sacked from the cabinet and he left State Parliament soon after.
A subsequent independent audit found that his entire trip to Dubai had been organised by Darley Stud.
Back in 2010, Mr Messara was asked about his role in organising the upgrades. "I have no recollection of it. Anything is possible," he told the Herald at the time.
Asked if he often organised such upgrades, he said: "All the time. If I can, if they are people I know, and where I have got contact with the airline."
In 2016 Fairfax Media asked Mr Messara about his role in the upgrades for Macdonald.
He responded by saying he told Macdonald that he would "get the Darley people to look after you" and that he had written to the Darley connections in Dubai saying "afford him anything you can in terms of the usual courtesies, he is a minister of the state of NSW, he has been amazingly helpful in getting this EI under control."
"If we had missed the breeding season that year it would have affected racing for years after. He did a great job and I am sorry to see what has happened since," said Mr Messara, referring to the corruption findings against Macdonald in three different inquiries by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Fairfax Media can reveal that Macdonald did one last favour for the wealthy Hunter Valley stud owners before his demise.
In May 2010 he proudly announced a $2 million upgrade to the Scone airport which included lengthening the runway.
A former government staffer said although Macdonald's spin was the upgrade was to expand the Scone economy, "it was really so one of the sheikhs who had a plane could land there."
Mr Messara told Fairfax Media that during the EI saga, local racing industry figures discussed with Macdonald their plans to develop the Scone Racing Carnival "into a showcase meeting". They told him their plans were being hampered by the state of the Scone airport.
Mr Messara said he asked "the minister and his staff if there was any government funding for such a rural project".
The government ended up matching the $600,000 put in by 10 local breeders, with Mr Messara personally contributing $50,000. The local council put in the rest.
Macdonald's speech to parliament announcing the upgrade was met with derision by the Opposition. "The Minister is putting a chairman's lounge in there, is he?" quipped the Liberal's Mike Gallacher - a reference to Macdonald's love of the highlife, which only a month later would spell the end of his political career.
Although Macdonald told parliament the airport upgrade meant Scone "has the potential to become a significant transport hub", no commercial airlines currently serve Scone.
