No hats and no frills but ITV rises to occasion and racing speaks for itself

It is interesting to note just how many times we've seen a reshuffling of the racing television pack – with one channel taking over from another or simply having the fear of God put up them by dwindling audience share – where we have been promised a radical rethink on how our sport can engage with a wider, younger, more diverse audience, and then we've ended up with something practically identical to what we had before, except with a couple of different camera angles and a new desk.

This time, though, it's different. What with necessity being the mother of invention, the Covid-19 shenanigans has forced ITV Racing's team into a re-imagining of how best to portray the game's flagship Flat event.

This week is why the company pays the big bucks for a terrestrial monopoly, so they can't let a few little inconveniences like having no people, no atmosphere to speak of, no glamour and too many face masks get in the way of good television.