Cash-filled bags are back in betting rings - if not among 'this drinking crowd'

True, what we got was hardly Energumene versus Edwardstone, but the action that survived was far from boring.

An exceptionally well-bred 'stallion prospect' claimed the Class 5 opener and then a £100,000 handicap was won by a filly who will next month lock horns with Pyledriver and Lord North. With Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand and 16-year-old sensation Billy Loughnane also successful in front of packed grandstands, there were fireworks on the track at Lingfield. What occurred in the ring was more humdrum.

For some racecourse bookmakers, recent trade has been unusually strong, albeit for reasons we should lament. Punters whose freedom to bet has been curtailed by savage affordability checks have headed instead to tracks across Britain. Informed sources cite that and bookmaker-imposed account restrictions as the reasons why the place lovingly referred to by John McCririck as the betting jungle is once again inhabited by lions.