Sure the wright up is true..

 I have the same experience with in ehorse trained by CD monappa and ridden by gnaneshwara .. it's a long story .. gnaneshwara and some bookie made a adjustment and the horse backed from 4/1 to 75/100 but the under foot condition is not good on the day . It's a easy win for him.. but the inside adjustment made the jockey greedy and he lost the race by neck.. jockey got beaten by punters outside the course... And from that CD monappa never let him to ride his horse.. now he is not where ... At that time punters lost big and one punters committed sucide also.

I’m sure bookies would have done the same thing numerous times through their accomplices—hammering down the odds on the tote for the favourite or any other horse by putting in a large amount of money at the last moment.

Sometimes, though, they get beaten by the very same tactics.

I too remember the kind of golmals which even some big owners used to manuplate totes. There was one such owner who used to bet with book makers in Ceylon (Sri lanka).

@sksagar

Enjoyed reading your take on how IVB actually grew across many racecourses in India several decades ago.

As someone attending races since late '80s, I would also like to add few to your presentation. There was a very popular bookie in Madras through '80s and '90s and the brothers running the show on photofinish bets, particularly during IVB, used to be quite interesting to watch.

Bookies used to assemble in front of the first enclosure tote area, and start shouting '30 paisa' to begin with. Slowly the betting will gather momentum and will go up to say 40 or even 50 paisa. One of the brothers will wait outside the office room, where the announcement will be made about the ultimate winner. Somehow, he will get the result first - through some shady arrangement though - and go and bet heavily with all other bookies, bringing the price back to 30 paisa. All these would happen in less than a minute, and almost every time that particular bookie will make money.

Understanding this trick, many ordinary punters also began following that bookie and made some profit from photofinishes. That was highly illegal, too.

Sooner than later, photofinish system came to a close and results came to be announced in no time. I remember how nice some professional commentators would comment to help the punters infer who won. Those were the real glorious days of Indian racing, I suppose.