But in a sense the pitch he’s putting up first time around is exactly the sort of position we would have wanted someone like

But in a sense the pitch he’s putting up first time around is exactly the sort of position we would have wanted someone like him to put up. If he can’t get regularly to a certain course, then someone else will, and they will give a more consistent service.”The real problem, Marriott says, is that “the NJPC is trying to put right in a few weeks things which have festered for far too long. Other changes, such as the compulsory computerisation of betting tickets, will mean that Little “will not be able to give the standard of service that I’ve always wanted to”.The computers, Little believes, will slow him down, while being forced to display a guaranteed minimum liability on any one bet “will make people think that that’s the most you’re ever prepared to lay”. He is also worried that the costs of administering the new system, which are being subsidised by the bookies themselves, will rise significantly in future years.Richard Marriott, the chairman of the NJPC, admits that “a strong and healthy ring is very much what we’re about, and I’d be sorry to see someone of Stephen’s stature leave, if indeed he does.

New rules which require attendance at a third of a track’s meetings each year in order to keep the right to bet there will, he says, “pander to part-timers rather than professional bookmakers”. People are telling me how to run my business when they have no experience of either racecourse bookmaking or pitch administration.”His complaints are many and varied. “I knew what I wanted to do before I left school,” Little says. “I’ve worked at it for half a lifetime, and now it’s being ruined by a bunch of know-nothings. That thought alone, to many minds, is evidence that the new regime is fundamentally flawed.Certainly, the man himself has little time for the NJPC.

He is testing the water at Sunday’s auction, but if it seems sufficiently warm, the rest of his pitches will be submitted to future sales. When JP McManus next walks into the Cheltenham ring with a six- figure punt on his mind its most obvious recipient may well be missing. His physical presence alone makes him difficult to miss, even when he is not wearing the ankle-length fur coat which is almost a visual dare to his customers. “This is where my judgement has got me,” it seems to be saying.