A nightmare for Jon Pullin - and it would be even worse if we had five days

What a difference a day made.

Was this the same racecourse, the same festival, that hosted a record opening-day crowd in glorious sunshine? Not since Boris Johnson flipped his position on Brexit has there been such a complete and dramatic change. Anyone walking on one of Cheltenham's lawns found the earth squelching beneath their feet. All that was green turned brown. For Shishkin, as for so many pairs of shoes, it was all too much.

If there was a moment that summed it all up, it came as Nicky Henderson talked to the media in that offshoot of the paddock used for the dismounting of unplaced horses. While expressing with certainty his view that the Champion Chase favourite had been undone by the ground and nothing but the ground, and with rain still falling from the depressingly grey sky, an announcement was made over the public address. The official going description was now heavy.