THE British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Geoff Banks announced in midweek that they have resolved their legal dispute over the incident involving Speculative Bid during the International Stakes at Ascot on July 25th 2015. This case has been one that has been closely followed, particularly given the possibility of a judge ruling on whether the BHA has a duty of care towards bookmakers, and by extension, punters. This settlement means that there will be no such ruling and the authority will continue to maintain that it has no such obligation.

That is a great shame as far as the betting public are concerned but the question now is whether this stalemate represents something of a whitewash, or whether some lasting benefit might come of Banks’ bold move in challenging the establishment.