The turf season is here at last as Parachute prepares to do battle at Doncaster on Sunday. I was at Herridge on Wednesday morning seeing our two Hannon youngsters there who both impressed with their physical appearance and well being.

*Parachute, 3rd in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, makes his season debut at Doncaster on Sunday*

Refine did her first piece of work and went really well which was great to see. She is likely to be our first two year old runner as Richard Jnr identified a race at Windsor’s Monday evening meeting in a couple of weeks time! We do have a couple of shares in her still available and she definitely looks to have an engine which is exciting. It is that time of year when nudges and winks begin to happen between trainer and work rider or jockey after a piece of work. Sometimes it’s hard to translate but not with Richard Hannon who simply said to the assembled team of owners “time to dust off the top hat and tails everyone - any more shares in her Harry, because if there are I’ll have them”!! Thor Hammer Hanson who rode her today just smiled and nodded in agreement. Here’s hoping but do take a look as she does go well. Please CLICK HERE for more information.

*Refine breezing past stable companions*

I am so grateful to Alex Frost for giving Rolf such an in depth interview for this month's Highclere Newsletter. It’s a fascinating interview and shows how vital the Tote’s role is for our industry going forward. The money that the World Pool brings in to those racecourses lucky enough to have a suitable race(s) is staggering and it appears to be growing significantly year on year which really is good news. Thanks too to Clodagh for her rhubarb panacotta recipe - believe me, it’s an absolute humdinger!

The stable visits are in full flow so if you haven’t already booked in, do put some dates in the diary to see your horses. Apart from being absolutely key to seeing how your horse is getting on, there is also no shortage of banter to enjoy along the way.

*Owners getting up close and personal with Hectic on a stable visit to Richard Hannon's*

Here’s wishing you the very best of luck with your flat horses in the months ahead - we have some seriously exciting prospects to go to war with, possibly the best group we have ever had so buckle up everyone and enjoy the ride!! CLICK HERE if you would like to get involved!!

Tote Takes Plunge Into The World Pool

by Rolf Johnson

*Alex Frost CEO of the Tote at Ladyswood Stud*

The Tote has always had to battle. Prior to and in the wake of the First World War illegal off-course bookmakers (the Peaky Blinders), were rampant. Sufferers, apart from losing punters and victims of gang warfare, were the coffers of Government and racing.

To restore the lost income in 1929 the Winston Churchill-promoted Racecourse Betting Act saw the Government-owned Tote go live at Carlisle and Newmarket.

After enjoying initial ‘first date’ infatuation the Tote retained punter’s fondness but scornful bookmakers came up with a cod-Cockney slang – the ‘Nanny Goat’ – and the label stuck.

The bookmaker’s lobby had the ear – and in some cases the accounts – of politicians: bookmakers were the big beneficiaries of the 1961 Act legalising off-course betting.

When the Tote was eventually privatised in 2011 the successful bidder, bursting through a packed field, was northern bookmaker Fred Done. He bought a seven-year monopoly.

But the multiple suitors that scrapped for the Tote showed somebody loved her. And worldwide, pool betting is far more prevalent than fixed odds gambling with (legal) bookmakers.

Continent-crossing betting ‘comingling’, the World Pool, may well be the saving grace for our racing: the possibilities of enhanced income are breathtaking. Is The Tote?

The principle behind betting with the Tote is that your stake goes into the ‘pool’ of money, dished out in return by dividing the number of winning bets by the amount in the pot; simple. The Tote mechanism, garnering profit regardless of the result of any given race, ensures it welcomes winning customers. Closed accounts (winning ones) with bookmakers are the bane of punters lives. Contrary to popular opinion there are ‘poor bookmakers’ – those who laid Frankie Dettori’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ outstanding examples.

In 2019 Alex Frost, a former City of London finance panjandrum, racehorse owner and breeder at his Ladyswood Stud in Wiltshire, as CEO led 150 financial luminaries and enthusiastic racing ‘players’ taking over the running of the Tote.

Alex Frost says: “Racing fans should be betting with the Tote because as well as paying the levy (ten per cent of gross profits from British customers betting on British racing), on World Pool betting days we benefit from significant media rights income.”

The benefits are passed on to the Horserace Betting Levy Board (the HBLB, racing’s piggy bank). The Tote’s win ‘take-out’ has been cut from 19.25 per cent to around 6 per cent, alongside the introduction of Tote Guarantee where the Tote matches or improves upon the SP, and Tote+ where Tote Plus gives a ten per cent boost to winning dividends.

These are revolutionary moves demolishing the shibboleth that bookmakers give better value.

The World Pool, global collaboration between international Totes, extends to twenty-four racing countries. The 2021 Cazoo Derby was a World Pool event for the first time, realising upwards of £26 million into the pool, with winner Adayar paying £20.2 on Tote+ compared with the 16/1 SP.

Alex Frost is orchestrating a revolution: heading towards her hundredth birthday the Nanny has picked up her skirts and become a dancing queen. Racing is banking the Tote’s boss continues to give a surefooted lead to his partners.

Alex was kind enough to give us an update on the Tote's progress.

How did you become involved in racing? Have you personal racing ambitions/wishes to realize?

My grandfather’s horse Roan Rocket (Lester Piggott/George Todd) winning the 1964 Sussex Stakes and St James's Palace ensured my dad had some fabulous early memories, though sadly that was an unrealistic legacy to continue! His enjoyment of the game was incredibly infectious though and ensured my formative years were dominated by following his much-loved horses around the country. They were sadly all too often circa 70-rated horses but still bordered on paying their way. How times have changed!

My current ambitions are to play a small part in ensuring others have the opportunity to do the same and involvement becomes more affordable via rebuilding the Tote.

Directly with regards to racing, breeding a black-type winner from Ladyswood Stud and enjoying days out with good friends is an ambition.

What drew you into the betting world? What is your personal view of the history of the Tote?

Like many of those who go racing each year, I enjoy testing my ability to pick winners and add to the day’s entertainment. Having spent 20 years on a trading floor that challenge was very much part of my working life as well.

The Tote has stood much in keeping with our national lottery model and can play a major role in funding the sport to ensure we maintain our position as one of the most respected racing industries in the world. When I look back at the involvement of Churchill in its formation, we all feel a heightened sense of responsibility in ensuring it maximises returns to racing and is a safe place to bet for customers.

*Winston Churchill – Chancellor of the Exchequer and racehorse owner who initiated the Tote in 1928*

The first broadcast for Indian punters enabling them to bet on live racing from the UK came on 7th March 2008, from Lingfield. Judge 'Calamity' Jane Stickels called the wrong horse in a photo and though there wasn’t a riot the Poona crowd were ‘unimpressed’. The experiment was not repeated. Now, Pool betting at conjoined meetings round the globe could be racing’s salvation. Have you ‘put the house’ on its success?

I think pools are already racing’s salvation. You only have to look at the top five racing nations of the World outside the UK and Ireland: namely Japan, Hong Kong, USA, France and Australia. All are funded by their pool betting operations, and each are seeing pool revenue contributions grow at an extraordinary rate. More specifically, there is no example of a successful racing jurisdiction without a pool at the heart of its funding.

You are quoted as saying “Racing will stand or fall in the 21st Century on whether or not it can convince enough punters to part with their leisure pound to enjoy the thrill of a bet.” Isn’t “leisure pound” something of a euphemism? Will the ongoing Gambling Review see betting as mainly the redistribution of ‘the leisure pound’ into bookmaker’s and Tote’s pockets? And may it impose sanctions in a bid to placate those who see gambling as the road to perdition?

Making the sport engaging is critical to its future and I hope we continue to be as ambitious as possible in that respect. The likes of ITV are a fabulous partner for the sport, and it would be great to see their enthusiasm for further innovation embraced across the sport.

Few would question the need for greater clarity in regulation, especially given the extent of change in the way people bet now compared to when the last legislation was enacted 17 years ago. Back in 2005 only a handful of people bet digitally, and now 97% of bettor do so on a laptop or phone.

Therefore, the Gambling Review is incredibly timely and hugely necessary. From our perspective as the Tote, we’d encourage horserace betting to be classified differentially to online casino and gaming. We hope that will be an approach that the Government is willing to take as we await the White Paper.

*Desert Orchid led up by Janice Coyle after his celebrated 1989 Tote-sponsored Cheltenham Gold Cup*

The Tote does not advertise on TV. Crucially, unlike bookmakers, the pool mechanism does not need customers to lose money to operate a successful business, instead receiving a % of turnover (known as commission) and this allows us to be on the side of the customer.

Hammering home this apparent contradictory nostrum – ‘safe gambling’ – you are quoted as saying what few have had the courage to do: “Having customers who lose badly…doesn’t feel like a long-term business model…Encouraging more people to bet with the Tote means more money will go back to racing”. Wholly laudable – is there an alternative way of funding the sport, another ‘business model’?

As per the above, our pool betting model is fundamentally different to bookmakers in being able to run a successful business, while customers can also be winners. We are firm believers in giving as much information as possible to customers, encouraging winners and generating as much as possible for the sport we love. This is a model where everyone wins.

You have guaranteed £50m to racing over your first seven years. “The funds the Tote provides britbet (who operate betting in partnership with the Tote at 55 racecourses and over 1400 fixtures), along with increased media rights generated by World Pool days, are entrusted (!) to racecourses which can then use them to support prize money and other improvements to their on-course experience.” Are racecourses sufficiently transparent in their use of such funds? Racecourses have allegedly been shy about how they spend their new wealth. The last race at Newbury on Saturday was worth £2178.40 to the winning owner. (Fortunately it was a GBB race).

World Pool was created by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and is a collaboration between global totes. World Pool allows bettors from all over the globe to bet into a single pool, bringing them together into one multi-million pound pool betting experience.

These huge pools – totalling £363 million across 17 racedays in 2021 - with diverse betting opinions, help create better value for Tote customers. For example, the biggest World Pool in 2021 was on the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, which was £3.99million, with the winner Winter Power paying 14.46 with Tote+ compared to 9/1 SP.

The tangible benefits of World Pool are being recognised, as reflected on by Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Communications at Ascot Racecourse, in the Racing Post in October: “In terms of the revenues that we can draw on from within the betting arena, it has been the most significant change in the landscape for decades.”

The funds the Tote provides to racecourses via britbet, along with increased media rights generated by World Pool days, are entrusted to racecourses who can then use them to support prize- money and other improvements to their on-course experience.

On the track - March 22

By Frances Howard

Whilst we unfortunately weren’t cheering any of our own horses up the Cheltenham hill this year, we were cheering Restitution to victory at Fakenham from the Highclere box on Gold Cup day! It was an impressive performance on just his third start over obstacles and handicap debut, and Alan King is confident that this improving juvenile will provide plenty of fun for his syndicate this Spring.

Pulling Stumps backed up his runaway victory at Ludlow with another improved performance at Uttoxeter on his handicap debut last weekend. He finished second behind a very well handicapped horse which was unlucky as he had the rest of the field well beaten in behind. He is an out and out stayer this horse and whilst he is improving rapidly over hurdles, it will be chasing that brings out the very best in him.

Coolnaugh Haze, our other juvenile hurdler, has run four times this year winning once and finishing placed in three. He returned to Ludlow this week where he made all the running in his usual enthusiastic style – wasting little time in the air over his hurdles. He looked the winner turning for home but was unfortunately run down by an older and obviously well handicapped rival at the finish. He wasn’t beaten far however, and jockey Tom O’Brien thinks that he is still quite weak and will improve a great deal as he gets stronger. He is another one with an exciting future ahead.

Looking ahead – we are very excited to have our first flat runner of the season. Parachute, trained by Ed Walker, heads up to Doncaster on Sunday for a mile and a quarter handicap. This now four year old gelding ran an absolute blinder in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot last year – beaten under a length into third place. That race rather knocked him for six mentally, and he struggled to recapture that form thereafter. However he has had an excellent prep this year and whilst he is more than likely to need this first start, we hope that we can get him back on track and running in some nice races again this season.

Another to look out for is Corsini – a gorgeous three year old filly in training with Martyn Meade, who makes her long awaited debut at Wolverhampton on Saturday in the 5.30pm fillies maiden. Corsini has been working nicely at home with some smart stablemates so she is expected to be very competitive tomorrow…

*Corsini makes her racecourse debut tomorrow at Wolverhampton*

So as the jumpers start to wind down, the flat side of things are very much revving up and we will soon be in the thick of the action. Having seen lots of our horses on stable visits recently – we have a really strong team to go to war with and it is hard not to get very excited about the upcoming flat season!

Cardamom Infused Panna Cotta with Poached Rhubarb

By Clodagh McKenna

I love this time of year at Broadspear as everything begins to bud up! Our rhubarb as you can see in the photo is flying along so I thought that this delicious rhubarb panacotta dish would be perfect now or for your Easter plans.

With Love

Clo xx

Serves 4

For the panna cotta

250ml double cream

½ tsp cardamom seeds, crushed

25g sugar

2 gelatine leaves

250ml milk

For the poached rhubarb

2 sticks of rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces

80g caster sugar

50ml water

For the panna cotta: Pour the 250ml of cream into a saucepan; add the crushed cardamom seeds and sugar, and bring to the boil, then simmer until reduced by one-third.
Soak the gelatine in the milk for about 15 minutes or until soft. Remove the gelatine, heat the milk until boiling, then return the gelatine to the milk and stir until dissolved. Pour the milk and gelatine mixture into the cooked cream, stir and then strain through a sieve (to catch the cardamom seeds). Pour the liquid into four glasses. Allow to cool completely, and then place covered in a fridge for an hour to set.
While the panna cotta is setting, make the poached rhubarb. Place the chopped rhubarb, sugar and water into a saucepan over a medium heat. After five minutes reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.
Remove the panna cotta from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving so that they warm up a little. Then spoon the poached rhubarb on top of each panna cotta and serve.

Where are they now? Felony

Felony is now known as Bill at home, he came to the same owner as Epic who is known as Ted, so Bill and Ted's Epic Adventure after training has been great fun! Bill had a few months out with some youngsters and came into work in 2021 like a duck to water. He found his person in his wonderful rider, Tamara, together they have competed in RoR classes, dressage and riding horse showing classes amassing lots of rosettes.

He is an absolute joy and a gentleman and a credit to all who have known him in his racing life and beyond. These boys are much beloved and will never want for anything. Tamara is hoping to start completing Ted this year, watch this space for more news on these special boys.