Doped

    Doped

    £9.99
    DESCRIPTION
    Winner of the 2013 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.

    Doped is the gripping true-story racing thriller set in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s. Combining a potent mix of horse racing, drugs, sex, class, crime, gambling and the monarchy, it tells the true story of one of the biggest doping scandals in British racing history.

    In March 1962 an audacious attempt to nobble one of the royal horses alerted police to a well organised band of racecourse criminals, backed by murderous London gangsters. The subsequent Flying Squad pursuit of the gang brought the quaintly deferential world of racing into sharp conflict with the harsher realities of the 'You've Never Had It So Good' era. This also coincided with the birth of the annual Dick Francis novel.The cast of characters is headed by William Roper, a debonair ex RAF Sergeant turned oddsmaker. His team included an ex jockey, numerous underpaid stable lads, an upper class gambling addict and a violent professional gangster who went on to face charges with the Kray twins in 1969.

    But the most fascinating member of Roper's firm was a beautiful and self-possessed young Swiss woman called Micheline Lugeon who became the bookmaker's lover.

    REVIEWS

    "Doped tale will have us hooked ... an explosive real life story ... a real page turner." Claude Duval, The Sun

    "He has captured the Sixties milieu to a tee and served up a richly enjoyable slice of Turf history." Independent on Sunday

    "Forgive the cliché, but this really is a book that I couldn't put down." Anton Rippon, Sports Journalists Association

    "This is a fascinating book, very well written." Dave Ord, www.sportinglife.com

    "Doped is a crackling, eye-opening read." David Ashforth, Racing Post

    "Impeccably-researched and furiously-paced ... unputdownable ... a breathless story of greed and corruption that shocked the nation." Sport magazine

    "an absolutely thrilling read" William Hills Sports Book of the Year judges
    REVIEWS

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