My racing correspondent, Captain Threadneedle, thought that banking and racing went together. He wanted Barclays to buy the Tote: perfect synergy, he thought, with matching systems, merged accounts, an overlapping customer base and a marketing slogan that would write itself: ‘You can bet on your overdraft with Barclays.’
He was, as we now know, before his time — and then the banks (Barclays included) took to betting on their own account, splashing out on doubles, trebles and accumulators, collecting piles of toxic betting slips and deservedly losing their boots. It has been left to Weatherbys, a very old name in racing, a new name in banking, to vindicate the Captain’s insight and to solve the equation.
It could be said that Weatherbys were looking after other people’s money before Diomed won the first official running of the Derby in 1780. Owners in those days would race their horses against one another in matches, and would trust a lawyer called James Weatherby to hold the stakes.
To this day, Weatherbys — now a seventh-generation family firm — is racing’s official stakeholder, collecting all the entry fees, distributing the prize money, and publishing the Racing Calendar and (since 1790) the General Stud Book.
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