SATURDAY, 19 MAY, 2018 WHAT DO FOBT CUTS MEAN FOR RACING? EASY CUP RETURN Op/Ed by John Berry FOR STRADIVARIUS It appears likely that British racing will shortly receive a stiff reality check following the government=s decision to reduce the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (more colloquially known as slot machines or one-armed bandits) from ,100 to ,2. Storm clouds have been brewing for many years as the nation's betting habits have been changing, but the FOBTs have been shielding British racing's little corner of the world from the worst of the chill winds. That seems likely to change in the near future. On May 1, 1961, Harold Macmillan's Conservative government legalised off-course betting, prompting the opening of around 10,000 betting shops. Initial, doomsday predictions had been that this might kill the sport as racecourse attendances would surely plummet. While it is true that the massive crowds which thronged British racecourses in the post-war years are a distant memory which Stradivarius and Frankie Dettori in full flight | Racing Post has largely gone forever, their decline was more than offset by the creation of the Horserace Betting Levy Board, authorized to He may have come up short against Order of St George (Ire) collect a slice of the betting turnover and pass it on to the sport (Galileo {Ire}) when third in the G2 QIPCO British Champions as compensation. Long Distance Cup, but Bjorn Nielsen=s Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) will be back in his face again at Royal Ascot after a Cont. p3 facile win in Friday=s G2 Mansionbet Yorkshire Cup. Always travelling easily reserved off the honest pace, the chestnut came IN TDN AMERICA TODAY to the fore without Frankie Dettori having to move in PREAKNESS REPORT: MORNING GALLOP FOR JUSTIFY midstraight and when finally committed passing two out went to Trainer Bob Baffert sent out GI Kentucky Derby hero Justify the line like a 4-6 favourite with three lengths to spare over old (Scat Daddy) for a gallop at soggy Pimlico at 5:30 a.m. Friday. rival Desert Skyline (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}). Cont. p2 Click or tap here to go straight to TDN America. TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 2 OF 16 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 19 MAY, 2018 Easy Cup Return For Stradivarius Cont. from p1 Desert Skyline=s trainer David Elsworth is not giving up hope of Trainer John Gosden is looking forward to a rematch with reversing the form with the comprehensive winner at Royal Ballydoyle=s 2016 G1 Gold Cup hero in the June 21 staying Ascot and said. AHe=s a tough individual, but he wants to go feature of the Royal meeting now. AWe=ll go for the Gold Cup, faster and further. We=ll leave him until the Gold Cup now, and but it=s uncharted territory,@ he said. AHe switches off and the he should have a good chance.@ freshness is out of him, so if you relax and switch off you=ve got a chance. I promise you I can=t practice over two and a half miles Pedigree Notes... at home, so the answer to if he will stay we=ll find out when they Stradivarius is the last known foal out of the useful Private Life turn for home.@ (Fr) (Bering {GB}), who his breeder purchased for just 70,000gns This time last year, Stradivarius was finding a way to get at the 2006 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Her four black- beaten in a Chester handicap for horses rated up to 90 but that type performers also include the G3 Bavarian Classic and G3 tight left-handed circuit played against him and he was far more Furstenberg-Rennen-winning German highweight Persian Storm at home going the other way round at Ascot=s galloping track (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), who is connected to another compatriot next time. Duking it out with Count Octave (GB) (Frankel {GB}) of greater standing in Protectionist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}). He is to annexe the first renewal of the revised and upgraded G2 the hero of the G1 Melbourne Cup, acquiring Australian Queen=s Vase at the Royal meeting, he then did the unthinkable by halting the winning run of the Gold Cup hero Big Orange (GB) champion stayer status in the process to add to his domestic (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) in the G2 Goodwood Cup at the best in the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, and is one of the most beginning of August. That was his first try over two miles and he accomplished descendants of the King George and Prix de Diane had formidable momentum at the line, so when it came to a heroine Pawneese (Ire). This Wildenstein dynasty spans more proper test of speed in the Leger over this trip he was found than 40 years of achievement, with the GSW and GISP Provins wanting slightly despite showing his customary enthusiasm as (Chief=s Crown) and G3 Tetrarch S.-winning sire Saratogan (El some classy colts set down to fight out the oldest Classic. On Gran Senor) other notables. Click for the free Equineline.com Champions Day, the rain turned the ground against him, but he catalogue-style pedigree. still strained every sinew to get to Torcedor (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) before Order of St George managed it a bit quicker. This race is part of the new WH Stayers= Million and Stradivarius now joins the G3 Sagaro S. scorer Torcedor in challenging for the Friday, York, Britain money at Royal Ascot. Victory there would mean the homebred MANSIONBET YORKSHIRE CUP-G2, ,165,000, York, 5-18, would only need to conquer Goodwood again and take the G2 4yo/up, 13f 188yT, 2:55.15, g/f. Lonsdale Cup to bag the million. 1--STRADIVARIUS (IRE), 127, c, 4, by Sea the Stars (Ire) AWe=ve now got the big hurdle, that was the little hurdle,@ 1st Dam: Private Life (Fr) (MSP-Fr), by Bering (GB) Gosden added as he pondered the next step. AI haven=t been 2nd Dam: Poughkeepsie (Ire), by Sadler=s Wells working him like that, so I=m very pleased as all he has done is 3rd Dam: Pawneese (Ire), by Carvin II bridle work. Mr. Nielsen has always been a passionate believer (330,000gns RNA Ylg >15 TATOCT). O/B-Bjorn Nielsen (IRE); in breeding middle-distance staying horses and I said he was in T-John Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori. ,93,573. Lifetime Record: danger of going out of fashion! Its important for people like him G1SW-Eng, 10-5-1-2, $817,652. *1/2 to Persian Storm (Ger) to have success.@ TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 3 OF 16 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 19 MAY, 2018 Easy Cup Return For Stradivarius Cont. (Monsun {Ger}), Hwt. 3yo-Ger at 9.5-11f & MGSW-Ger, $121,198; Rembrandt Van Rijn (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), GSP-Eng, $167,081; and Magical Eve (Ger) (Oratorio {Ire}), SP-SAf. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+. 2--Desert Skyline (Ire), 130, g, 4, Tamayuz (GB)--Diamond Tango (Fr), by Acatenango (Ger). (i40,000 Ylg >15 GOFORB). O-C Benham, D Whitford, L Quinn & K Quinn; B-Tinnakill Bloodstock & Cannings (IRE); T-David Elsworth. ,35,475. Vice President, International Operations 3--Call To Mind (GB), 127, c, 4, Galileo (Ire)--Memory (Ire), by Gary King Danehill Dancer (Ire). O/B-The Queen (GB); T-William Haggas. Twitter: @garykingTDN ,17,754. [email protected] Margins: 3, NK, 3HF. Odds: 0.65, 10.00, 10.00. + 1.732.320.0975 Also Ran: Max Dynamite (Fr), Count Octave (GB), Clever Cookie International Editor (GB), Wicklow Brave (GB), On To Victory (GB). Click for the Kelsey Riley Racing Post result. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Twitter: @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Cont. from p1 Emma Berry What Do FOBT Cuts Mean For Racing? Twitter: @collingsberry The charismatic Scottish [email protected] bookmaker John Banks, a 'king of the ring' in the 1960s and '70s, Associate International Editor was one of the fastest out of the Heather Anderson traps, building up a string of 34 Twitter: @HLAndersonTDN betting shops in and around Glasgow (before selling them in Marketing Manager 1972 to Mecca Bookmakers, a Alayna Cullen Twitter: @AlaynaCullen corporate firm which itself was [email protected] subsequently taken over by William Hill). However, he didn't Contributing Editor refer to his premises as betting Alan Carasso shops: "I don't call them betting Twitter: @EquinealTDN John and Gus Berry shops; I call them money factories. To have one is a license to steal Cafe Racing money. Week in, week out, it just pours in." Sean Cronin Tom Frary Of course, though, nothing lasts forever. The glint of the [email protected] golden age soon began to fade. 'Diversification' is often hailed as the way forward, but diversification of punting habits has been Irish Correspondent bad news for racing: our sport formerly had the punting market Daithi Harvey cornered, but nowadays racing's market share is less than 50% as betting on other sports has mushroomed. Throw in the Regular Columnists invention of the internet and the consequent explosion of Andrew Caulfield internet betting, and we have seen the betting shop boom turn John Berry Kevin Blake to something not far short of bust. Tom Peacock What, however, has been continuing to breathe life into the ailing patient has been the advent of the FOBTs. Cont. p4 TDN EUROPE/INTERNATIONAL • PAGE 4 OF 16 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • 19 MAY, 2018 What Do FOBT Cuts Mean for Racing? Cont.