Every day it seems there are offers from various bookmakers to persuade you to join them. But are they always what they seem? Apparently not, as one member outlines his problems with Victor Chandler and I myself have had major difficulty in placing bets with Bet365. Here is David’s story and next week I’ll write about my problems with Bet365

It may be in the interests of William Hill to move their whole betting operation overseas but sometimes you need to take a long term view and in this instance it is a decision that the company may well come to regret.

Plenty to look at in my latest article, from moaning owners, struggling trainers and a newspaper tipster who’s letting us all down. Fortunately, as far as the latter is concerned, there’s a handy little arrow on the Racing Post web site that allows you to turn the naps table upside down and show him second from the bottom. Mind you even that is an improvement on his usual position. Just what has happened to Farringdon of the Morning Star?

When you set yourself up to be the perpetrator of all that is good in your sport, then you also set yourself up for a huge fall should you, even once, fall from the lofty perch you have built for yourself.

That is the fate that I believe has befallen on Betfair as it seems to have been betraying the very clients it claims to protect.

And how!

Members of the Save Historic Newmarket Group were on cloud nine on Wednesday after the local council voted unanimously to refuse Lord Derby permission to develop 1200 houses at Hatchfield Farm. They should not celebrate too long because their joy is likely to be shortlived.

Why is it that those responsible for governing racing persist in behaving like ostriches? It’s many years since we first dubbed the lot of them the Ostrich Club and nothing has really changed. Why, only this week we had BHA chief executive, Nic Coward, burying his head and trying to make out that all was pretty much okay with racing. Doesn’t he know there’s a recession on? How much longer before the truth dawns? Will we ever see anyone with realistic vision leading racing forwards?

There was a lot of controversy over the amended result of the 1000 Guineas and a lot of questions needed to be asked that weren’t. Whatever people think of the final result, all it did was highlight once again the lack of consistency and the inability of the stewards to make the correct decision.

I found myself questioning their ability yet again at Thirsk last Saturday, when to me it was quite clear that in the opening race one of the runners was schooled in public and I have no doubt that this horse will be winning soon. The name?

One of the better innovations of recent years is the ability to place a bet online with any bookmaker and having done so then watch the race streamed live on to your computer. All the major bookmakers offer this facility and until recently so did Betfair. But in a move that has seen little publicity, the company does not now show any Racing UK courses on its live streaming service.

I knew something was wrong when I asked Racing UK why I couldn’t watch the racing from their courses, on Betfair. The reply made me sit up and take notice.

This is a plot of which I am certain Dick Francis would have been proud. A top racing stable, owned by a millionaire businessman, sacks three jockeys in four years in the thirst for success. Then a fire roars through the site, almost destroying the training complex in the process and killing the families pet gerbils. This sets the scene nicely for my new novel – Howards Hideaway. Here is a sneek preview. We join the story with a masked gunman holding the weapon to the trainers head.

No, I am not referring to Wallace and Gromit, I am of course referring to the pinnacle of the jumping season. Not Cheltenham, not that I would ever knock Cheltenham! No, I am talking about the ‘people’s race’, the one that every jockey wants to win, the Grand National!

Certain events stand out in sporting history, especially in racing. Who could ever forget Frankie Dettori’s Magnificent Seven at Royal Ascot back in 1996, or just last year the amazing exploits of Sea The Stars? Back to jumps racing and we have the unforgettable hero Arkle, and more recently, Best Mate, emulating Arkle with his three Cheltenham Gold Cup victories. Then of course there is the Daddy of them all: Red Rum, most likely the best known race horse the world has ever seen. Rummy, an average horse at most other tracks, was an Aintree specialist, and it was his exploits there that shot him to worldwide fame. And now, finally, after 14 previous attempts, someone else has won the big race at Aintree, someone who unlike Red Rum, has shone at pretty much every jump racing track all over the UK and Ireland, someone who should be famous the world over for his dedication to his sport and his astonishing achievements, but for unknown reasons, is not.