Author: Mike Deasy

Cheltenham – the love/hate continues I wouldn’t say it was a guilty pleasure, with many other sporting events already cancelled, but I was glad to have had a couple of days at this year’s...

Betfred buy into William Hill These scribblings have already suggested it would be no surprise to see William Hill divest themselves of their betting shops. They were first out of the blocks to close...

How racing needs to up its game to keep its customers January greeted racing with the news that racecourse attendance in 2019 had fallen by 2.6%. Reasons were put forward, not least the halt...

No great surprise – 1 The Jockey Club Racecourses’ plan to demolish Kempton Park and trouser millions through housing development was always a long-shot. A few years ago, London Irish rugby club set out...

On the face of it, the Tote is flickering back into life. It has a new look, which is being rolled out across Britain’s racecourses. It has reintroduced the Tote 10 to Follow competition...

Candidate for the Labour Party leadership Rebecca Long Bailey (pictured) has given Jeremy Corbyn marks of “ten out of ten” as a politician. It has been observed that with two election defeats, failure to...

The most disappointing aspect of the row over the new plan for apprentice jockeys’ prize money and riding fees share is that the hopes of four aspiring jockeys of joining Andrew Balding’s yard next...

Sandown’s void race fiasco Before dissecting the fiasco that was Sandown’s final race on Saturday, let’s not forget the sad circumstances which brought about the situation. The Venetia Williams (pictured) trained and Toby Blackwell...

Customer service struggling down south It was noticeable that last month’s Racecourse Association Showcase Awards were dominated by tracks in the north of England and Scotland, where nine of the 13 awards have gone....