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Equinties - in bed with Frankie
BGP Capital
January 16, 2026
Gm, Equinauts
Day 1 of the Berkshire Millions three day-er starts today and £1.2m is up for grabs around Windsor’s very unique figure of eight track.
As usual, Mick Fitz has produced some excellent content (well, we think anyway) ahead of the racing and although the RP have labelled the going as soft/heavy, Mick has different opinion on it:
Let’s dive in.
HEADLINE ROUND UP
IN BED WITH FRANKIE
We spoke only yesterday about Frankie’s financial affairs, but overnight we stumbled cross a Telegraph article which puts colour on the situation as to how, after earning over £150m in career earnings, Frankie has ended up in the situation he is in!
And it is WILD who he was in bed with (pun fully intended).
Enter Paul Baxendale-Walker. Who?
Once a lawyer specialising in tax, Paul set up his own Mayfair-based firm focusing on complex tax planning for clients. This all started in ‘94, but merely a little over a decade later, Paul was struck off (by the Solicitors Regulation Authority) due to professional misconduct.
This is where it starts to become a bit stinky.
Paul effectively helped large corporates and HNWI’s avoid paying tax. Aggressive in nature, his schemes were sold through his firm and apparently cost the Exchequer more than a £billion in lost rev!
Safe to say, the HMRC weren’t happy… and Frankie was one of Paul’s clients!
Now, many HNWI’s and celebs have got themselves in trouble through various tax avoidance schemes (think the Panama papers), so we can forgive Frankie here for trying to be clever (or not) with his vast income.
It’s more Frankie’s judge of character that has to be questioned. Paul Baxendale-Walker was a f*cking pornstar!
Yes, you read that right. When he wasn’t helping clients cheat HMRC, Paul was getting his wang out on camera to feature in his own self-funded porn films.
Through his own company Bluebird Productions he produced porn, where he not only served as director and producer but also acted in several titles under the stage name Paul Chaplin or aliases like Jo-Kerr lmao. He positioned the company as a major player in the UK's porn scene, collaborating with established performers and releasing genuinely commercially successful content. He also owned Loaded magazine (what a blast from the past!) through a publishing venture, which he reportedly described as part of his self-styled "porn baron" identity, though that company died last year.
Back to Frankie, basically, the HMRC have deemed all the schemes Frankie ‘invested’ in as shams and want £2m back off him. Ouch.
Oh and Paul is in rehab for sex addiction.
That Telegraph article:
MULLINS IS BACK(ISH)
There was a lot of chat on racing x about Mullins’ low striker rate over Christmas. In an earlier article (at the start of December), we forewarned punters that this might be coming as he aims to get run’s into plenty of his horses.
Well, he’s back now and is creeping up to the dizzy heights of his usual and unparalleled high standards. from his last 40 runners in January, he’s landed 14 winners with as many going close in the places, operating at a 35% strike rate.
He unleashed a new Supreme contender yesterday in MIGHTY PARK who obliged by an easy 30 lengths or more:
Costing JP a cool 100k, the half to multiple Grade 1 winner MIGHT BITE gave Mark Walsh ‘a lovely feel’.
Although we’re not sure what he beat, he couldn’t have done it any easier and if you like him for the big Supreme in March, he’s still double figure odds at 16/1.
Willie has also given BAMBINO FEVER her second start of the season and she impressed WiIllie’s brother Tony describing her as ‘our’ first banker of the Festival (Mares Novice):
Aside from BAMBINO FEVER, Willie is hasn’t yet set the Irish tracks alight with a superstar but we imagine (more, hope) they’re all to come and with races such as the novices events in particular still a wide open puzzle to be worked out, we’re excited for the rest of January.
FIGURES UP
Lastly, the BHA were probably patting themselves on their fat backs yesterday as it was found racing experienced a much needed resurgence in on-course attendances.
The latest figures showed a strong recovery and growth across 2025. According to data released by the Racecourse Association (RCA) on January 15, 2026, total attendance at British racecourses in 2025 reached 5,031,640 — the first time the figure has topped five million since 2019.
This represents a 4.8% increase on 2024, with the average attendance per fixture rising 3.6% to 3,526 across 1,427 race days. Obviously, the upturn was owed to the buoyant festive period, where December saw 331,405 racegoers — an 8.6% jump from the previous year. High-profile meetings at tracks like Kempton, Chepstow, Aintree, and Newbury drew bumper crowds over Christmas and New Year, while 2026 kicked off nicely with a sell-out crowd of 44,151 at Cheltenham on New Year's Day.
Now, BHA… this doesn’t mean you need to add another day to the Festival. Less is more, thank you!
