'Encouraging that Royal Ascot are focused on running the meeting without crowds'

What is Royal Ascot without the royal procession, bandstand, national anthem, elaborate tailoring and enough pomp and circumstance to launch a battleship? We may find out this June, after organisers made the call to take the festival behind closed doors, if it can happen at all.

Given the parade of major summer events that have already been cancelled or postponed - Wimbledon, Euro 2020, the Olympics, the Open - perhaps the only thing surprising about this decision was that it had not already been taken.

But it is encouraging that organisers are focused on running the festival without crowds. That might be a surreal inversion of the usual Royal Ascot pageant, where what happens off the track is often as much the public focus as the racing, but for an audience starved of sporting action it would be a gift without compare to feast on the high-quality racing Ascot offers.