Keep Sundays special! Why blockbuster weekends must continue in post-Covid world

When Mick Easterby came out of his front door the other day, the first point he made was about the coronavirus. It was a very good point indeed.

He was quick to express sadness at the loss of so many lives and keen to show sympathy for those left behind, but he also wanted to say the pandemic had been responsible for some helpful changes. In times of great trouble there is a need to look for the positives as well as the negatives. That is certainly true in racing, where numerous recent developments have made things better, not worse.

The sport looks different at the moment. Many of those differences are to be welcomed. Saturday was not only different, it was better than the same Saturday has been in previous years. In part that was because it was so lovely to see the Darley July Cup won by a different set of faces.