We all have to adjust to reality, like the lady who entered a Barbados bar having already enjoyed several gin and Dubonnets. On her shoulder was perched a rare parrot and she announced, ‘The first person to guess what this bird is can go to bed with me tonight.’ A voice calls out: ‘A turkey.’ After a quick survey of the other bar stools she replied: ‘That’s near enough.’
Under the leadership of the British Horseracing Authority chief Paul Bittar, racing too has been adjusting to reality, most notably in working for a better relationship with the betting industry on whom it must continue to rely for funding. Bittar has been nearly as loud as the bookies in condemning the Chancellor’s Budget for raising the Machine Games Duty tax on fixed-odds betting terminals in betting shops by another 5 per cent only a year after introducing it at 20 per cent.
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