AS this part of the world slowly edges forward, with many sectors reopening in Ireland, we had a real test of the business end of our industry with the unique staging of two breeze-up sales in one at Doncaster on Wednesday. The coming weeks will provide a further evaluation of where we are, including in the National Hunt sphere.

Trade at the Goffs UK and Arqana Sales would indicate that there is greater confidence in the future of racing than we might have anticipated. Yes, it was just one day of trading, but there was demand for stock and there were buyers keen to invest. Not everything is rosy, and a lot of withdrawn lots show that the breeze-up investors were forced to sell privately to keep the ship afloat. Nonetheless, there is general agreement that the results exceeded expectation.