Gm, Equinauts

There is a great stat today pointing towards a horse representing a very famous gambler in a memorial race held in honour of his Grandad.

There’s a distinct lack of support for it at the moment but watch the market…

We will be anyway.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

🛑DON’T BET WITH ASCOT

The Tote provides a number of Britain's biggest racecourses with the option to white-label its pool betting product, allowing racegoers to bet into what appears to be the track's own pool.

Sounds great for everyone. (Everyone knows we're pro-Tote, and the only people who aren't are the bookies. Fucking shock.)

The problem? Ascot is the ONLY racecourse who don't offer the Tote's SP Guarantee, meaning punters can end up with lower returns than if they'd placed the exact same bet through the Tote itself.

And this is Ascot we're talking about — the richest racecourse in Britain.

The Tote has no control over how individual racecourses choose to operate their white-labelled pools, but we've got a simple solution if you're heading to Berkshire for Shergar Cup weekend.

Download the Tote app and place your bets there instead. That way you'll get the benefit of deep liquidity, the Placepot rollover and the Tote's SP Guarantee rather than risking a smaller pay-out through the racecourse's own pool.

🏇BILLY HAS THEM LINED UP

With William Buick out serving a careless riding ban, Billy Loughnane steps up for Charlie Appleby in all three of Friday's two-year-old races at Newmarket.

The title race leader has a 43% strike-rate when riding for Godolphin and his book of rides today will surely prove fruitful in extending his lead ahead of Oisin.

His first ride is on DESERT CASTLE, a well-bred son of FRANKEL and a brother to Group 1 winner DREAM CASTLE. We understand this lad to be Godolphin’s best 2yo.

His second ride is on OH SWEET ADARE who was the 900,000gns top lot at Book 2 last year and is a sister to Flying Scotsman winner AVICENNA.

Finally, he’s in the plate steering NABATI who is a gorgeous NIGHT OF THUNDER colt out of a once rated 98 mare.

The books haven’t let up on DESERT CASTLE. We thought he might be somewhat of a backable price owed to the depth of the race but alas, he opened odds on and remains too strong in the market. You’ll need to use him as a bit of leverage for another.

🎮VIRTUAL TURNS REALITY

As you’ll be aware, The Shergar Cup celebrates its 25th anniversary at Ascot on Saturday, and for the first time ever, Hong Kong field a team and out of it comes quite a funny story.

26yo Jerry Chau is one of three riders making the trip and described the opportunity as the “biggest moment”.

He revealed he used to play racing video games and would always choose to ride at Ascot, making Saturday’s appearance a dream come true: “I used to play video games and choose to ride at Ascot and now I’m here riding for real.”

At least he knows the track well…kind of.

Chau has ridden 221 winners in Hong Kong and enjoyed major breakthrough success in last year’s Grade 3 Korea Sprint, will team up with Vincent Ho and Luke Ferraris as they look to make Asian racing history.

Good luck lads.

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