Gm, Equinauts

Personally, we wanted to bet MAHO BAY in a big way yesterday. We put him up as a single stake bet in the newsletter because it’s important to make sure all readers stick to some sort of responsible punting methodology to protect the bank,

but we knew he wasn’t going to lose today so wanted to make the most of it.

(We know some of you reading this will be like ‘why didn’t you tell us that?’, well we only bet two horses yesterday, two winners, and most reading this will have had other bets following other tipsters etc. Had MAHO BAY, for whatever reason, lost, then the trolling would have been monumental).

But backing a winner isn’t so simple anymore!

We never thought we’d be in a situation when working out the winner is easier than actually betting it.

Getting a bet on is simply absolutely ridiculously impossible.

Accounts blocked because we haven’t bent over backwards to provide financial documents, stakes restricted because most books don’t want to take a winning bet and deposit limits enforced meaning we couldn’t even get the money into the account anyway.

This is why we are so pro the Tote. Seriously.

£500 stake? Yup. £1000 stake? Hit it. £2000 stake? Easy. All on at the click of a button and no trader review.

The bet was paid out at the drifting SP of 11/10.

We admit, taking a price is very important in betting but when you just want to get stuck into a shortie and all the books don’t want the business? Use the Tote.

We cannot stress it enough. More people need to use the Tote.

Play on the Tote here: Tote | Offers

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

❗BAD NEWS FOR RACING

Beneath the big Craven headlines, the likes of Gosden debuting regally bred rockets and Appleby shaking up the Guineas market, lies something darker that racing cannot celebrate.

We reported earlier this week that National Hunt trainer Evan Williams has been sentenced to three years in prison for battering an intruder with a hockey stick, two more stories tarnishing racing have also come to light…

First up, apprentice jockey Brandon Wilkie. He’s been charged with causing GBH with intent following an alleged assault on a weighing room colleague last August. The 22-year-old, from Dromahair in Ireland, was arrested after police were called to an address near Newmarket, with reports that the alleged victim required hospital treatment for serious facial injuries.

Secondly, former stable lad David Hickin has been banned from racing for two years and eight months following findings of serious SEXUAL MISCONDUCT. He admitted breaching the sport’s code of conduct over his behaviour towards three women—two aged 18 and one aged 22—during a series of incidents that took place between May and July last year at a yard which has not been publicly identified.

Racing is in a bit of a mess at the moment and these stories are literally the LAST thing it needs.

More:

❌GAMBLING ON THE FUTURE

The fight around affordability checks has taken ANOTHER turn, with the Gambling Commission being told that the results from its pilot scheme “cannot be trusted” as it moves closer to a FINAL DECISION on their rollout.

At the centre of the issue is the reliability of the data. The pilot—designed to test so-called “frictionless” financial checks—has produced inconsistent results across different credit reference agencies, meaning the same individual could be assessed differently depending on the provider. This lack of consistency has raised serious concerns within the industry about whether the system is fit for purpose.

There are also wider concerns about transparency and evidence. Some argue that without clear, consistent data, the results being drawn from the pilot can’t be reliable, especially given the consequences on the betting eco-system.

Calls have been made for the process to be PAUSED until the findings are properly understood and validated.

The stakes are massive. Pun there. If brought in, these checks could affect hundreds of thousands of bettors, with many potentially being asked to provide more financial documents and industry figures warn this could drive customers away from regulated bookmakers and towards the black market—something already flagged multiple times in this newsletter as a growing risk.

✈️ROYAL JET?

The Wood Ditton is normally always a great maiden but yesterday we saw a performance which absolutely blew our socks off.

Enter PORTCULLIS:

Visually it was f*cking amazing, but before we get too carried away, like so many do when watching a horse win by so many lengths, we want to try and work out just how good this horse is.... Because seemingly it came out of no where!

He went off 7/1 ffs.

Even in the post-race interview Gosden said his work at home was good but not flashy and was perhaps even inferior to his stable mate who came last in the race!

But the performance can’t have been a fluke. His time was only a two second slower than the Craven! The Craven was full of experience, and this was PORTCULISS’ debut…more over, he missed the break so upgrade his performance even more.

The key is in the BLOOD.

PORTCULLIS is royal homebred, by FRANKEL out of Group 1 winner CASTLE LADY and deep in the lineage sits RAVENS PASS on the page.

It’s a huge pedigree and looking back now we ‘re kicking ourselves for not asking more questions after him.

John Gosden trained RAVENS PASS and landed two Group 1’s with him (second in so many more) including a BREEDERS CUP and Royal Ascot victory:

Big shoes to fill indeed, but this lad might just be able to walk comfortably for he has that beautiful FRANKEL blood.

It sounds stupid to say now, but FOLLOW THIS HORSE.

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