Gm, Equinauts

Wolves will be interesting tonight…

When news of a potential Lee Power coup landed at 9am, the four-horse slip featuring FUSEBOARD, CEPHALUS, POWER CUT and WALKING ON CLOUDS was paying well over 2,000/1.

The bookmakers wanted no part of it. It wasn't just a case of restricting stakes—you couldn't even place the four horses in the same multiple.

We'd love to shout "criminal", but the reality is you're betting on their terms. If they don't want to lay a bet, they don't have to.

The combined price has since contracted to around 500–600/1, and the firms now seem prepared to take a bit of money.

It's not our gamble, so we're just watching from the side-lines, but this morning's restrictions certainly made for an entertaining breakfast.

Eye on the Power horses later!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

🚨FIRST MOVE

This is news just in… The Gambling Commission has CONFIRMED it will move forward with the introduction of financial risk assessments, despite strong opposition from British racing and the betting industry.

No launch date has been announced, with the body instead beginning a phased implementation process that starts this summer through a dedicated working group. We guess that means they’re going to start with a small, randomly selected batch of punters?

Although the Commission says the assessments are designed to identify high-spending customers experiencing financial difficulties (while reducing the need for intrusive document checks for the majority of bettors), lots in the industry remain concerned the new checks could have a significant financial impact.

These changes are estimated to take over £250 million over the next five years from racing!

Officials say feedback from the pilot scheme has helped shape a more cautious rollout, but the Betting and Gaming Council argues the pilot failed to deliver the promised "frictionless" experience, claiming inconsistent data could still leave some customers being asked to provide personal financial information.

Now, here's our view. We know something needs to be done to stop people doing their brains. As one of the larger racing accounts on X, we regularly see punters who can't take an L, get emotional about it and end up chasing their losses.

What that "something" should be, though, we don't know.

The biggest argument against affordability checks—or any form of intervention, for that matter—is that people should be free to spend their money however they want. We don't entirely agree.

Yes, you can walk into a supermarket and spend £100 on beer, cigarettes and junk food. But with gambling, that same £100 can disappear on a single race. Then it's another £100. Then another.

If you're a bad gambler, it's all too easy to lose money very quickly.

We do feel some people need to be restricted, for their own sake.

Now, we are NOT in favour of the current checks, there is simply way too much friction and people can’t be arsed with it. The people we know simply let their accounts be closed.

More, we feel the requests from the bookmakers are odious in nature and totally disjointed from one another. Asking someone to send their full financial data plus a photo of their face outside a house number is quite frankly a joke. Having to do that for EVERY firm is totally absurd.

Ya’ll know we hate the corporate giant bookies anyway, they’re a stain on the sport, a stain on British business for that matter, but given they own racing, we need to find a way (for now) to work with them and make things frictionless.

Maybe this idea wasn’t so bad?

📣DEAL ANNOUNCED

Sky has agreed to acquire ITV's television and streaming business in a £1.6 billion deal (subject to regulatory approval). While the move is designed to strengthen both companies against he rise of global streaming players, viewers are unlikely to notice any immediate changes.

ITV will continue operating as a free-to-air public service broadcaster until at least 2034.

Racing wise, ITV RACING is expected to continue as normal as ITV's current agreement to broadcast British racing runs until the end of 2030 meaning coverage will be unaffected in the near term.

So, what does the future look like (for us as fans)?

Well, Sky has suggested there could be opportunities to expand free-to-air sports coverage, potentially increasing the amount of racing shown on ITV but any future changes will depend on negotiations with racing's rights holders, particularly as some racecourses are already covered by Sky Sports Racing.

For now, we can expect business as usual, with the possibility of enhanced racing coverage in the years ahead which can’t be a bad thing.

More:

🏇RACE TO THE TOP

We’re two months into the British Flat jockeys' championship and Billy Loughnane has just edged to the top of the British Flat jockeys' championship table with 51 winners, holding a narrow advantage over defending champion Oisin Murphy.

Loughnane enjoyed a big month in June, surpassing £1 million in prize-money for the season aided by his success at Royal Ascot and his mate BOW ECHO.

Oisin Murphy is gunning for his SIXTH championship title, sitting just two winners behind Billy.

Rossa Ryan is in third place with 43 winners, while Cieren Fallon is fourth after maintaining a bullish 20% strike-rate and staying on course for his personal target of 200 winners this year.

Saffie Osborne completes the top five with 29 winners but the books aren’t even considering her a threat and haven’t priced her up!

There’s 4 months of the season still to run (thank god) and the title race is going to get exciting.

Marco Ghiani is eyeing up a top three spot. The 27-year-old has made a quick start to the season, climbing to joint fifth in the standings with 29 winners already—putting him well within smelling distance of the top… he finished 25th last year!!!

Ghiani credits his recent success to the support from trainers like William Knight, Marco Botti and Stuart Williams, who have backed him since his apprentice days. He also gave a nice nod to his agent for securing his competitive rides.

Alongside a top 3 championship challenge, Ghiani is aiming to reach 100 winners in 2026 and pass the milestone of 500 career victories.

Realistically, the title is likely to be fought out between Oisin Murphy and young Billy Loughnane. Oisin will need to be smart when choosing his rides around his retained commitments, given Billy has the backing of both George Boughey and Godolphin.

Who do you think will win?

WE WENT 3 FROM 3 SATURDAY, SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO ACCESS OUR DAILY BETS:

By becoming a premium reader you get access to all the big race previews and the days best stats and bets!

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.