While I was watching the York Festival last week, ITV Racing pundit Adele Mulrennan said when assessing the field for the Yorkshire Oaks and the chances of the favourite Minnie Hauk, “I’ve had my biggest bet of the year on her.”

For some reason, I didn’t believe that she had anything like a large bet on the favourite and it got me wondering why this intrinsic part of the sport seems more alien to females?