Cheltenham remains a Covid casualty as we prepare for a very different festival

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? That hardly seemed plausible at Sandown on Saturday.

Our acquaintance with the coronavirus, even if in a general not personal sense, felt as fresh as ever to those few folk allowed entry to the first Grade 1 card of the year. Sandown was even emptier than on Tingle Creek day, when the presence of spectators made the occasion slightly more like those we had enjoyed in auld lang syne.

This time the spectators were gone, as were the owners, bookmakers and even, for the most part, the ITV Racing team. It is a sign of how strange these times have become that, save for Oli Bell, the network's broadcasters remained in their Kempton hub, less than six miles from the Pond Fence.