IF I had a pound for every time I’ve heard the expression ‘unprecedented times’ in the weeks since the curtain came down on racing, I’d probably claw back most of the money I’ve lost through the drought of earning opportunities in the same period.

It’s true that life for all of us has changed palpably of late, and we’ll never quite get back to what we considered normal even when the current restrictions have been lifted, but such upheaval is not a new thing, and each preceding generation has experienced a cessation of normality in much the same way as we are currently experiencing.