Royal Ascot as we knew it is gone - and it will never be the same again

It goes down as the year when Royal Ascot followed other sporting institutions of similar status in putting quid before quality. Like the expanded Euro 2020, which finally reaches the last-16 stage this weekend more than two weeks after it started, Royal Ascot has become a meeting of two halves.

The first half of each day resembles the Royal Ascot of old, when superior horses lock horns in a series of thrilling tussles. The second half can be charitably described as unfit for purpose. To borrow a revolting phrase so beloved of the toffs, it is mutton dressed as lamb.

When an extra day was added in 2002 to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee, it was strictly a one-off, Ascot assured us. Now extra races added last year under the cover of Covid have become fully incorporated. All of it gift-wrapped in a cloak of stealth.