IT was just like old times.

Crowds were back, sporting shorts in the sunshine, Godolphin beat Coolmore in the big race and Andre Fabre was completing a six-timer with a multiple Group 1 scorer. It was a scenario that has been played out many times in the past 25 years.

There was even a listed victory in the green, blue and white silks of Sam Sangster, made famous by his father, Robert, for the Nicolas Clement-trained two-year-old Camelot filly, King’s Harlequin.

She broke her duck with a bang following two maiden defeats, evoking memories of Vincent O’Brien’s dual 1970s Arc winner, Alleged.

So much of what took place at Deauville on Sunday and ParisLongchamp on Tuesday, over the extended Bastille Day bank holiday weekend, masked the fact that we are in the middle of a global pandemic.

But ‘mask’ is the key word here, as, looking back at the photos in a few years’ time, that is what will stand out.

Everybody on the track was wearing a face covering, including the spectators, the stable staff, the jockeys and the officials.