Four-Legged Friends day at Wincanton? Just don't let my dog hear about it

We're in the kind of economic climate that makes every business start thinking about new ways to keep the turnstiles clicking, but I'm a bit of a purist. I like my racing undiluted by distraction, and I wonder why, for example, anyone would feel encouraged to go racing by the presence of an Abba tribute act? I'd prefer a decent 2m handicap chase over the real Abba, for that matter.

A few tracks are doing stuff this month, I notice. There's a military band at Sandown, which at least is preferable to a steel band, whose air of sunny optimism I normally find starts to grate by the time I've backed a couple of losers.

A Welsh night at Ffos Las? At least you don't need a visa to get in. Fiver Friday at Warwick? Now that's the kind of attraction we need, freeing up a little extra cash to hand over to the bookies later in the afternoon.