Word: dagenham
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...London last week, one bookmaker phoned another and said, "Something's up at Dagenham today. I don't know what it is or what race, but something's up." It was indeed. At the Greyhound Stadium in London's thriving industrial suburb of Dagenham, a determined band of bettors was about to attempt one of the greatest coups in the history of gambling...
Busy Signal. Meanwhile, other insiders were flooding London's legal bookmakers with bets on the winning dogs. The bookies, who pay track odds, frantically tried to lay off some of the money at Dagenham itself. But the telephone circuits serving the tote at the track were blocked and busy for a crucial ten minutes before race time...
Noisy Protest. London's Daily Express claimed that Operation Sandpaper had been masterminded by "a retired army officer, now a Midlands businessman," and said the team that had tied up Dagenham's betting windows numbered 170 men. The coup had taken three months to prepare, and the bankroll was ?6,000 ($16,800)-"?4,000 for betting, ?2,000 for expenses...
...bookmakers labeled the Dagenham caper a "builder play," and have occasionally taken a licking from the same technique. The most notable builder play took place in 1932 at Agua Caliente race track in Mexico. Staged by West Coast Gamblers Baron Long and Harry Fink, it boosted the odds on a horse called Linden Tree from a logical 7 to 10 to almost 10 to 1. By betting Linden Tree heavily with U.S. bookmakers, Long and Fink made a killing...
Fostering Chaos. Tough Allen Barke, 58, has thus scored a notable break through at Dagenham: Ford workers have been forced to recognize at last that wildcat strikes can no longer be called with impunity. But Ford's basic difficulty at Dagenham is not yet solved. Dagenham executives blame their labor troubles variously on Communists, the failure of the national unions to control local shop stewards, and widespread resentment among the workers at U.S. ownership. However, General Motors' experience at its Vauxhall plant in Luton, north of London, suggests that there is more to the story...