The Currant Bun’s betting offshoot, Sun Bets, has been unveiled as the new sponsor of what was formerly the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham. This news could leave at least some readers of the Guardian’s racing coverage feeling like citizens of Metropolis being encouraged to bet with Lex Luthor, but there is one crumb of comfort for purists in that the race will revert to its former name of the Stayers’ Hurdle. Did anyone ever work out what the “World” Hurdle was actually supposed to mean?
For Ladbrokes’s marketing division, meanwhile, the loss of the firm’s flagship sponsorship at the biggest betting festival of the racing year is a calamity. Cheltenham has firm rules about allowing competing brands to sponsor at the meeting, and sensibly so since it maximises the value of the individual deals. Ladbrokes is not just gone from the Festival, but probably gone for good.
Even five years ago, this would have seemed unthinkable. Ladbrokes, whatever any individual punter might think of them, is one of the most familiar gambling brands on the planet and a natural fit for a meeting that celebrates betting like no other.
Then along came the BHA’s Authorised Betting Partner policy, which Cheltenham, as part of Jockey Club Racecourse, supports. Ladbrokes’ refusal to agree a deal which would return to racing a guaranteed percentage of its online profits – the offshore, Levy-dodging turnover – meant that they were no longer allowed to renew their much-prized sponsorship.
Some may think this a shame. A personal view is that the timing is interesting. In theory at least, the government will resolve the perennial arguments over the Levy once and for all within a few months, by introducing a new scheme to capture both high-street cash betting and the increasingly dominant online revenue. If so, the ABP scheme will be obsolete and racing will move on into a much more settled future.
Ladbrokes know this. Everyone knows this. Yet they still resisted signing on the ABP scheme’s dotted line and handing over a relatively small slice of their offshore profits, sacrificing a big sponsorship presence in the sport’s brave new world in the process. If that made sense from a financial point of view, they may be raking in even more money by robbing racing of its rightful share of offshore revenue than we realised. Then again, Ladbrokes’s management may just be very, very short-sighted, which does not bode well if, or hopefully when, either this or a future government comes to its senses and does something about the crack machines in their high-street shops.
Still, that’s one for the future. More immediately, racing punters have three betting days until Christmas to build a bank for Boxing Day, and three meetings to choose from this afternoon.
Just one is over jumps, and the field sizes at Taunton are very healthy as a result. A few are not as deep as the numbers might suggest, however, and Beau De Brizais (12.45) could offer some value at around 3-1 in the opener.
Philip Hobbs’s four-year-old did not have much luck here last time out, as he stumbled three out as he was starting to get into contention and then could not get a clear run in the closing stages. He did enough to suggest that he is on a workable mark, however, and does not have a great deal to beat this afternoon.
Volpone Jelois (1.15) is another standout in the first division of the maiden hurdle, while Water Wagtail (3.20) appeals in the handicap chase later on the card.
The best bet of the day, though, could be on the Fibresand at Southwell, where Captain Revelation (2.30) is very fairly priced at around 9-2 to follow up a recent course-and-distance success. Tom Dascombe’s gelding has finished either first or second in all six of his starts on this surface, and put up arguably the performance of his career to record his third Southwell victory last time out.
Multi Quest (2.00) is a bit more of a stab in the dark as she is making her Fibresand debut today, but she ran well at Chelmsford City last time and is a fair price at around 12-1 if she takes to the surface. Calypso Choir (2.40) and African Beat (4.10), meanwhile, are two to consider on the other all-weather card at Kempton.
