LAST Saturday, it was refreshing to hear Daniel Cooper, clerk of the course at Haydock, refer to a bias on the straight course prior to the Betfair Sprint Cup. This information is just what is required to keep, and attract, savvy sports bettors to the sport. Imagine a young, smart punter deciding to bet on horse racing and, having studied a card, places his bets accordingly only to find that there is a distinct, hitherto unknown, advantage to horses that race on one side of the track.

He or she would feel that they had been betting blind without all the relevant information and may be lost to the sport. Most sports punters would not place a bet on football without knowing the team news, and it follows that we cannot expect to attract them to the sport without providing them with accurate and relevant information. They would have had no issue at Haydock, where Daniel Cooper proved to be spot on with the first four home in the big race drawn in stalls 15,19,16 and 13.