The betting ring: 'Hopefully it will survive but it's a totally different game'

Barry Dennis has been a fixture in the Lingfield betting ring for the best part of 40 years and knows better than anyone how things have changed. By contrast Julian Head, who bets as Goodwin Racing, is a relative newcomer.

The pair have somewhat different approaches to the business, but neither is in denial. The once vibrant on-course market is a shadow of its former self, and at mid-winter midweek fixtures turnover can be dire, with too many bookmakers chasing too little business.

Both acknowledge it will be hard to arrest the decline in on-course turnover that was accelerated by the advent of the exchanges and the growth of online betting via tablets and mobile phones.