Chautauqua and Winx bring gravitas to event in its infancy

Give a two-day meeting a grandiose name like The Championships and you are giving it a lot to live up to. Especially when the entire concept bears a suspicious resemblance to an act of one-upmanship on the part of organisers Racing New South Wales. A body that for so long has lived in the shadow of rival jurisdiction Racing Victoria, which stages one of the world's greatest races, the Melbourne Cup.

But, despite my initial cynicism, the first leg promised a ten-race card worth A$10 million in prize-money and a quartet of tantalising top-flight events. There was also a post-race performance from Ronan Keating, although that was of slightly less appeal to someone in my demographic.

By all accounts The Championships are usually staged in driving rain, with day one of the 2015 renewal having to be postponed because of the weather. So in some respects I should have considered myself fortunate to have arrived at Randwick in near 20 degree heat, even if it did leave me instantly regretting not having applied a more liberal helping of suncream.