Doped - Jamie Reid

The true story of the shocking doping gang who scandalized the racing world in the early 1960s

A potent mix of horseracing, drugs, sex, class, crime, gambling, and the monarchy. In March 1962, an audacious attempt tosteal one of the royal horses alerted police to a well organized 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. The cast of characters is headed by Bill Roper, a debonair ex-RAF sergeant turned oddsmaker. His team included an ex-jockey, numerous underpaid stable boys, a drugs supplier nicknamed "The Witch Doctor," and a violent, professional hard man who went on to face charges 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.