Next year is going to be tough - Premier racing and media rights battle will decide just how tough

From the little I know about him, it would seem unlikely the late Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha was a particular fan of horseracing or indeed gambling.

Perhaps the nearest he came to showing an interest might have come when watching Norman Wisdom performing in the film Just My Luck, which, as I am sure you will recall, featured Albania's favourite actor getting up the first five legs of an accumulator at Goodwood.

However, in recent years, and particularly just at the moment, one of Hoxha's most famous sayings holds plenty of resonance when it comes to British racing. "This year will be harder than last year," he once told the Albanian people in a cheery new year's message. "It will, however, be easier than next year."