'I started training just as Covid happened - it could have been a disaster'

When someone like Ed Vaughan is waving the white flag and British-based trainers are increasingly looking to send runners to France to make it pay, you would have to question the mindset of any individual looking to grow a new training business from the uneasy foundations on which racing in Britain currently stands.

Thankfully, for the long-term health of the sport rather than perhaps their own sanity, there remains a desire among a handful of intrepid souls to ignore the warning signs and attempt to beat the odds among the training ranks at perhaps the most critical period the sport has ever faced.

As if times were not hard enough before 2020 arrived, the global coronavirus pandemic that halted almost everything earlier this year and continues to impact everyday life has been a particularly large iceberg in the already choppy waters any rookie trainer faces.