TODAY, Goodwood had been earmarked to be part of a trial, also involving cricket and snooker, to get numbers back at what is essentially, in the case of racing, an outdoor event. Just before midday yesterday that experiment was knocked on the head with an announcement by the British Prime Minister that events nationally made such a trial unsustainable presently.

This had nothing to do with Goodwood, its management or the sport of racing itself. However, the current rise in cases in Britain, and the necessity to re-impose a lockdown on large areas and millions of people there, meant that trialling a small crowd of 4,000 or 5,000 at Goodwood would have been the wrong optic, and a risk too far. The situation will be revisited in a couple of weeks.