The danger of a mares' chase is horses like Laurina would run in it

The worst race of the festival had one of the meeting's best winners, with Laurina showing herself to be in a different stratosphere to all her rivals in the mares' novice hurdle.

Not surprisingly, interest immediately moved towards her future festival targets.

No horse won more easily over the four days. It is also true no race had less strength in depth than the one Laurina won. Given the nature of the contest, that latter point was always going to be the case. The great fear – and it would also be a great shame – is that this exceptionally talented mare could face similarly simple missions on her March returns.