At least one bookmaker is suing Britain’s horseracing industry association following last month’s Speculative Bid farce at Ascot.

The Gigaset International Stakes made headlines for all the wrong reasons after 4-1 favorite Speculative Bid emerged from the stalls without jockey Jamie Spencer and proceeded to run the entire race sans rider. Heaven’s Guest was officially declared the winner and bookies began paying winning bettors.

But the Ascot stewards subsequently declared Speculative Bid a non-runner, allowing punters who’d backed the riderless nag to reclaim their stakes. Bookies were therefore authorized to apply racing’s ‘Rule 4’ deduction on Heaven’s Guest bettors, trimming 20% off the bettors’ winnings in this case.

Problem is, by the time this non-runner ruling had been announced, plenty of winning bettors had already collected their full winnings. Making matters worse, a third announcement declared that Speculative Bid was indeed a runner for betting purposes, meaning bookies that had refunded bettors’ stakes were out even more cash. All of which left bookies echoing Johnny Rotten at Winterland: ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?