Just 12 bets in a day for one York bookmaker but cash is still king

The two racecourse bookmakers permitted to work at York's Ebor festival took hardly any bets, hardly any money and met hardly anyone wanting to carry out transactions by card – but one of the layers stressed that being there was in some ways still a positive experience.

Joe Huddlestone was betting from his stand next to Keith Johnson's pitch at York, where four days of top-quality racing stimulated little wagering interest from the owners, who were among those able to interact with bookmakers as part of a trial that began last week.

"We are very happy to have been at York but it was very quiet – and it largely got quieter as the week went on," said Huddlestone.

"As crazy as it seems, we would probably have done better at a local track with local owners. The Ebor meeting is full of horses representing big international owners and York put on a very good spread for them in the grandstand, so they understandably weren't coming down to us for a bet.

"I did take a £1,000 bet on Ghaiyyath from a northern owner who always bets with me when he's at the races, and there was also a £500 losing each-way bet in another race.

"Saturday was slightly busier but it was still very quiet and a £200 bet was the biggest by a long way. We had a sweep on how many bets we would take between the two of us – and the final total was only 68. You can contrast that with Beverley, where someone took 100 bets earlier in the week."

Johnson's pitch took 44 bets on Wednesday, 35 on Thursday and just 12 on Friday. The number rose to 23 on Saturday but they were for a total of only £351, with all owners wanting to use cash.

Huddlestone's contactless device also remained largely untouched, while across the two firms there were only ten card bets at the meeting.

"There have been very few bets placed with cards, fortunately from our point of view," he said, adding: "We were very well received by people, including some trainers who wanted to speak to us, and it was great to be at York again.

"From a business point of view it wouldn't be workable in the long term but at least it has got racecourse bookmakers noticed again."

Very much noticed was ITV's coverage of the festival, with a rise in ratings mirroring this year's wider gains.

The biggest audience of the week was for Saturday's Sky Bet Ebor on Saturday, which pulled in 983,000 viewers, 35 per cent up on 2019's 730,000. Overall, the average audience across the four afternoons was 691,750, up from 524,000 in 2019, a 32 per cent increase, while the average audience share rose to 10.3 per cent from 9.2 per cent last year.

More to read

Dream horse Pyledriver downs millionaire colts to set up Group 1 bid

'Horse of a lifetime' Battaash has his day of days after battling success

A masterplan comes to fruition as the prince made of glass lands the Ebor

Did you know you can bet via the Racing Post mobile app/website? Simply sign in with your favourite bookmaker via the Accounts button and then bet direct from our racecards