Betfred says it has “no choice” but to walk away from sponsoring all five British Classics after the tax rise announced in the Budget.

Fred Done, the company's chairman and co-founder, had signalled before the announcement that the sponsorships would go if chancellor John Healey raised machine games duty (MGD).

The deals in question cover the 1000 and 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, the Derby and Oaks at Epsom and the St Leger at Doncaster.

While Healey did not raise MGD to the 40 per cent some had feared, he did put it up to 25 per cent from 20, leading Betfred to claim over 1,000 jobs were at risk in their shops alone.

The company took on the Derby, Oaks and St Leger sponsorship in 2023.…