Ok Computer: how the Virtual Grand National has become so much more this year

This was the weekend we in racing expected to be at the centre of the sporting universe and, in an odd kind of way we could surely have never anticipated, we still are.

What we wanted to be talking about was Tiger Roll’s bid for racing immortality as he lined up at Aintree in an attempt to win the Randox Health Grand National for a third time, a feat only ever achieved by the legendary Red Rum in the 181-year history of the race.

Instead, we face a distinctly different reality, both in terms of our own circumstances and those surrounding the world’s most famous steeplechase.