An embarrassment of riches turns into an embarrassment on a dismal day at Ascot

A total of 30 horses contested this year's Britannia Stakes. Five months later, the same number of horses ran in a seven-race ITV Ascot fixture worth £355,000 in prize-money.

To make matters worse, there were only really 29 runners, given one of the 30 'starters' took part in the ignominy of a walkover, the first at Britain's most famous racecourse in almost four decades.

This was a dismal day. When declarations were made on Thursday, it looked set to be spectacular. Even at that stage the numbers were not great, but Constitution Hill, L'Homme Presse and Edwardstone, three of last season's Cheltenham Festival-winning novices, were all expected to star. None of them ran. An embarrassment of riches became simply an embarrassment.