senior Racing Post writer leaves with a scathing blast for the paper

It's not hard to see the Racing Post has changed in recent years - sales are down as much as 40% in four years, Betfair scrapped their £1m+ annual advertising deal with them after they refused to cut the price despite flagging sales figures, and it's virtually a bookies' mouthpiece with very little criticism in there. The punter wants independence of thought, not just well-scripted material from bookie headquarters.

Writer Paul Haigh blasts Racing Post in resignation letter

Fair play to him for having principles. What's the point of being a journalist if you can't have integrity. But from the Racing Post side of it, what else are they to do? 90% plus of their ad revenues will come from bookmakers and exchanges, and understandably, they won't want to be advertising in a rag which is critical of them. But a line has to be drawn somewhere. There are certain journos out there whom you know have just added their name to the top of a press release (eg Rod Nicholson in the Melbourne Herald Sun with Tabcorp propaganda).

The UK betting public has little option but to buy the Racing Post when they want proper form. The daily rags are very limited in their coverage - fields and a brief comment just doesn't stack up - here's what a real formguide in a mainstream paper looks like, so bookmakers should be told to shut up and take their medicine when the criticism is deserved. They know darn well they'll be knocking at the door for Cheltenham, Aintree, Ascot, the World Cup etc...

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Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...

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