The World Pool dream: a revival of those Tote stalwarts the Placepot and Scoop6

Until last week, checking the Tote dividends before placing a bet on a relatively big-priced fancy felt like one of those things that had slipped silently out of day-to-day life, like gently knocking a skipping CD player, or not electing figures of fun to high office.

The World Pool, announced shortly after last year's Royal Ascot but only really built up in the week leading up to this year's meeting, brought in players from nine other countries. By far the most exciting was Hong Kong, where the pools are famously large and played by some of the most sophisticated betting syndicates in the world.

To facilitate the move, takeouts – which had increased since the Tote was bought by Betfred in 2011 – were brought back down to 17.5 per cent in both win and place markets.