Unfortunately tiny fields are all too common in the top races these days, both in Britain and Ireland, because there are simply way too many of them. The number of group, graded and listed races probably needs to be cut in half to produce the field sizes and level of competitiveness found in countries such as Japan, Hong Kong and Australia, but, sadly, racing officials just don’t seem to care. Races that would be abandoned elsewhere due to inadequate fields are regularly allowed to take place.

Oscar Whisky (37) duly won the Scilly Isles but his success was hardly what one would expect from a 6/1 on shot that had 16lb in hand on official figures.