WHILE some observers would suggest that the overall quality of the 24 lots on offer did not match last year’s high standards, it must also be acknowledged that the organisers and vendors were not helped by the unfolding story, hour by hour in the lead up, of the effects of Covid-19 and its impact on racing. Uncertainty about the ability to stage racing fully may have forced some potential investors into adopting a wait and see strategy.

One trio who had that suggestion far from their thoughts was that of Ross Doyle and father and son training duo of Colin and Joe Tizzard. They left the Cheltenham winners’ enclosure with the evening’s three most prized lots, hoping that at least one of them would someday be back in that hallowed space during racing’s Olympics.