IT was not just the temperatures that were sizzling on day one at Royal Ascot. Two course record times and a juvenile record time were indicative of some excellent performances on the clock but also quite clearly of some particularly fast conditions.

It is not clear just how fast a major British course must be to be described as “firm” these days, though an official change from “good to firm, good in places” to “good to firm” all round after the opener was a small step in the right direction. There is no shame in returning “firm” as a description providing the ground is safe, as it was here.