WHEN is a course record not a course record? One answer is “when it is Battaash’s time of 56.20s for last Friday week’s King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood”.

It was correctly pointed out that the five-furlong race distance was remeasured and the start moved, with effect from May 8th 2017, along with many other starts at that time. But the starting point was in fact moved forward by two yards, so any faster times before that date must have completed the final five furlongs of a five-furlong and two yards race quicker also.