Was Dante prescient about Eurovision and the Levy?

Or is The Divine Comedy just the thought he'd get a Derby Trial!

Not the worst day ever. A 15/2 winner, a 14/1 2nd and a 14/1 3rd. Shortlists that contained winners but remained shortlisted, but in the main, nothing horrendous. We made a small loss from our selections, which it turns out is precisely what this industry needs to survive.

Our occasionally loss-making tips and this year's Cheltenham Festival lie at the heart of a hugely profitable year for bookmakers, who contributed a record £108 million in levy yield for British racing in the financial year ending March 31st. This figure, the highest since the levy collection system was reformed in 2017, is set to surpass the previous peak of £105 million recorded in 2023-24. However, this financial upswing arrives against a backdrop of concerning trends within the British racing industry. The Levy Board has reported an annual decrease of eight per cent in betting turnover on British racing, marking a significant 19 per cent drop since the 2021-22 financial year.

The unexpectedly high levy yield, which exceeded the Levy Board's initial forecast of £100 million, is largely attributed to results at the Cheltenham Festival that saw several prominent favourites, including Constitution Hill, Jonbon, Teahupoo, and Galopin Des Champs, suffer defeats; all helping to significantly increase the bookmakers' gross profits, the base from which the levy is calculated.

So my losses are helping to keep this industry afloat. Huzzah!

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I would hope that you care, but I know that I am a voice crying in the wilderness. Unlike me, many of you will simply brush past the brilliant comedy that is the annual Eurovision snag-contest, or the ESC as it has now become known in the confusing jargon of the literate LGBTQ+ tech world.

Sadly, you’ve missed the first semi-final, that instantly earned it the name of the snag contest as act after act died mid-song, or their LED glitched or their stage show stuttered. It was so bad that