Imagine a horseracing version of The Traitors - or is that just the world we already live in?

"Oh, infamy, infamy . . . they've all got it in for me!" Kenneth Williams' gag from Carry On Cleo, which, tragically enough, was voted the best one-liner in film history, occasionally bubbles up from some dank corner of memory when I read about the latest developments in racing politics.

It's also a joke that you'd think would have been made at some point by one of the dozens of contestants on a TV series called The Traitors, which you may have come across. I happened upon it early this year while seeking something mindless to medicate myself with after one too many articles about levy negotiations. I seem to have got hooked.

Based on a simple idea – it's basically 'wink murder' on telly – it puts players in a situation where, if they last long enough in the game, they can't help revealing their character. Heroes and villains emerge. Weakness, complacency and vanity are ruthlessly exposed and punished.