Press Release

Tote set for Jumps Season with Ten to Follow and new Ambassador Richard Johnson

• Tote Ten to Follow Flat season winner lands over £64,000   

• ITV Racing’s Editor Paul Cooper wins Charity League

• Guaranteed minimum £150,000 worth of prizes for Tote Ten to Follow 2020/21 Jumps season competition

• Richard Johnson joins Tote as Ambassador

Thursday 29th October 2020

Today, the Tote can reveal the winners of the Tote Ten to Follow competition for the 2020 Flat season and the details of the 2020-21 Jumps season competition, which will be available to British and Irish racing fans.

After an unusual but action-packed flat season, the eventual winner was Robin Green whose “Teleprompter 1” stable won overall first prize of £64,452.50 with 798.44 points.

Robin Green said: “I’m really delighted to win Tote Ten to Follow which is a fantastic game. Pick 20 teams and it costs £100. I really cannot think of a better £100 to spend. It gives you an interest in every Group 1 of the season. It’s a great achievement to win £64,425.50 and I just can’t wait for the next one to start.”

Full details about Robin’s stable and how he won can be read here: https://tote.co.uk/racing/features/ten-to-follow-winner-robin-green

In addition to the winner, there are prizes down to 100 places and a Free-to-Play League which saw “Oscars Time” winning the top prize of £5,000 with 797.78 points.

Tote Ten to Follow Charity League

ITV Racing’s Editor Paul Cooper headed a high-class field for this season’s Charity League. Paul had a lead for the last few weeks, ahead of ITV colleagues Mick Fitzgerald and Hayley Turner who finished second and third respectively, which saw Paul win £5,000 for a charity of his choice after gaining 581 points.

Paul has split his winnings between WellChild and the Irish Cancer Society, for which Davy Russell and Jim Bolger organise “Hurling for Cancer” - an annual hurling match in aid of the charity.

Paul said, “I'm delighted to have won the Tote Ten to Follow Charity League, but more importantly to be able to donate to two great causes. Ed Chamberlin does a lot of work with WellChild and I know from speaking to him how badly the pandemic has impacted the charity this year, whilst Jim Bolger, Davy Russell and everyone else associated with Hurling for Cancer have done some amazing work for many years, so both charities can hopefully benefit from the donations. The Tote Ten to Follow is a great game and I'm looking forward to the Jumps competition which starts next month.”

Racehorse Owner Martin Taylor wins a month’s training fees

The Tote ran a private league for members of the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) with a first prize of a month’s training fees, in the form of a payment of £2,000. In a very competitive competition Martin Taylor took top prize by only two points with a finishing score of 699.54 points.

On winning, Martin said: “It’s great to see the Tote Ten to Follow competition back and my brother, Lee, and I are delighted to be the first winners of the ROA League. It has been the most difficult year for the whole racing industry and owners have been stoic in their support of the sport. I’m sure owners enjoyed participating in the League and it went down to the wire on Champions Day. My son Tom’s choice of Sottsass and Magical as our substitutes proved to be crucial to our winning.”

 £150,000 up for grabs in the Tote Ten to Follow 2020/21 Jumps Season competition

Tote Ten to Follow for the 2020/21 Jumps season will be opening at 9am on Monday 2nd November with guaranteed prizes of at least £150,000.

The 2019/20 Jumps season Tote Ten to Follow saw Richard Hutchinson win over £177,000. Twice Grand National winning jockey Davy Russell won the Charity League splitting his winnings between Clionas, which supports families with terminally ill children, and the Irish Cancer Society.

Racing fans will have until 11am on Saturday 14th November to complete their stables before the competition commences at the November Meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The competition will run until the end of the jumps season at Sandown Park on Saturday 24th April 2021.

There will once again be three Leagues with big prizes and 0% takeout by the Tote:

• A main League with just a £5 entry with 70% of the pool (after deductions for monthly prizes) going to the winner with 30% distributed between 2nd to 100th place.

• A Free-to-Play League with a £5,000 top prize.

• A Charity League with a £10,000 top prize.

• There will be monthly prizes from December to March inclusive, with £10,000 and £1,000 for the top player each month in the main League and Free-to-Play League respectively.

The game is devised to be simple to play and includes the following features:

• Amending stables: Players can edit their stable at any point between 2nd and 14th November, so there is no disadvantage in submitting a stable early. In the event of a dead heat, the player who entered their stable earliest will assume the higher position.

• Creating silks for stables: Players can really feel like an owner by creating their own silks for their stables.

• Private Leagues: Mini leagues are available allowing players to take on their friends, family, and colleagues.

• Creating multiple stables: There are two ways to play the game. If players are looking to create stables one by one, they can use Simple Mode. For those wishing to create permutations, Pro Mode allows players to create and enter their own box perms easily. Box perms allow players to be more efficient with permutations to ensure that all stables have the correct balance of horses for the Jumps season.

Richard Johnson joins the Tote as Ambassador

The Tote is delighted to welcome Richard Johnson as Ambassador.

Four-time Champion Jump Jockey Richard will be sharing news and views via tote.co.uk and @ToteRacing as well as carrying the Tote logo on his breeches when riding during the 2020/21 Jumps season.

Richard Johnson said: “I’m thrilled to be working with the Tote which is such as integral part of British racing. It’s exciting to be working with the team as they rejuvenate pool betting which is a crucial part of the sport’s future. I look forward to using the Tote platform to share my news throughout the season.”

Mark Kemp, UK Tote Group Managing Director, said “We are really excited and proud to welcome Richard as the Tote’s Ambassador. His race riding record speaks for itself and he is someone everyone across the sport holds in the highest esteem. Congratulations to the winners of the Tote Ten to Follow. In what has been such a difficult time for so many we’re glad this competition has been able to engage fans in the excellent sport we have enjoyed across the summer. The finale on QIPCO British Champions Day was a particularly high note on which to conclude the flat season. It’s great to be launching the jumps competition next week which promises to keep British and Irish racing fans entertained through the winter months. Good luck to everyone who plays this season’s Tote Ten to Follow competition!”  

Full details about Tote Ten to Follow, including the scoring system, list of eligible horses and bonus races for the 2020/21 Jumps season will be available at https://tote.co.uk/ten-to-follow/play/.

For more information about the UK Tote Group please visit www.uktotegroup.com and follow us @UKToteGroup and @ToteRacing.

ENDS.

For further information, please contact:

Susannah Gill
Communications and Corporate Affairs Director
UK Tote Group
susannah.gill@uktotegroup.com
07751 870 929

Notes to Editors

About UK TOTE GROUP

UK Tote Group is the proud owner and steward of the Tote, the UK’s leading pool betting operator.

The Tote has been a core part of British horseracing since 1928 when it was established by Parliament under Winston Churchill as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to provide the public with a safe way to bet and vital funding for the sport.

UK Tote Group is committed to fulfilling Churchill’s founding mission through a revitalised Tote which provides better value and an improved experience to customers, as well as funding for British horseracing. 

The 90-year-old British company is backed by racehorse owners and breeders from around the world. It has an exclusive partnership with 55 British racecourses to provide pool betting services to the six million people who attend race meetings in Great Britain every year, alongside an alliance with Tote Ireland.

The Tote employs 120 people who are based in the Tote’s main office in Wigan and a satellite office in London.