The two sides to the dispute over funding of horse racing "have both acted to entrench their positions on Thursday morning," according to Chris Cook of the London GUARDIAN. The British Horseracing Authority announced a three-year deal with Betfair that makes the firm the first official Authorized Betting Partner of racing, while Coral, which has so far rejected the ABP scheme, "revealed a major new sponsorship in Ireland." Betfair was, along with 32Red and Bet365, deemed to be an ABP when the BHA launched the scheme in October. The deal with Betfair will formalize a financial arrangement for three years from April, under which the company "will pay the sport an agreed percentage of the profit it makes from betting on British racing." The ABP scheme "contains incentives for firms to sign up as well as punishments for those who do not." Some bookmakers have "expressed outrage about the ABP scheme and threatened to invest their money elsewhere" and in other sports. The first visible sign of that came on Thursday when Coral said it would "back an entire card" at Leopardstown, south of Dublin, on Jan. 17, when the two headline races will each carry prize money of €100,000 ($109,300). Coral said, "This will be the first time Coral has sponsored a horse racing event in Ireland" (GUARDIAN, 12/3).
