Hail Bailey, Bass and all the stars who made this a day when miracles happened

Close to junction 23 of the M6 there was on Saturday a weather miracle, the sighting of a horse whose return to racing is a miracle and victory for a young chaser who could win the Gold Cup as a seven-year-old novice, which would not be a miracle but certainly unusual. At Ascot there was something miraculous as well.

There have, of course, been many miracles over the years, not least the feeding of the 5,000, when five loaves and two fish proved enough to satisfy 5,000 people, a feat that recently inspired the British government's school meal box provider Chartwells.

To the list of matters inexplicable we can now add the winter afternoon when Haydock somehow survived the weather and David Bass somehow survived the third fence down the hill at Ascot.