'We dodged a bullet' - how Royal Ascot's alarming near-miss exposed the climate threat that stalks British racing

• Ludlow one of several jumps tracks to suffer consequences

• Dan Skelton sympathetic to courses' plight

• Racing's social licence may come under spotlight

The coming weeks will provide further evidence that climate change is interfering with British racing. However, the scale of the challenge it now poses the sport is best viewed not through how it will change the start of the upcoming core jumps season but what it so nearly did to the world's most famous Flat festival.

Three months ago the sun shone bright on Royal Ascot. Had the fixture been staged one week later, or had a major weather event arrived one week earlier, the sun's strength would have caused two whole days of the royal meeting to be lost.

For the first time in four years, the Met Office in June issued a red warning for extreme heat. The warning extended across the Wednesday and Thursday of the week that followed Royal Ascot. As the racecourse was within the red zone, the BHA's strict rules would have forced the abandonment of racing on both days.