Shutter and Tasleet defy mud as rain greets Knavesmire's return

At 2.56pm the 16 runners for the sprint handicap are loading into York's stalls. At precisely the same time John Gosden, sporting a decidedly wet trilby and raincoat, is walking up the home straight. Although a tall, imposing chap, Gosden is nonetheless unlikely to withstand a field of thundering thoroughbreds.

To widespread relief, Gosden ducks under the rail just before the stalls crash open. From a point close to the two-pole, he watches the speedsters whizz past and disappear into the distance before then ducking back under the rail and resuming his inspection of the track on which the much-vaunted Shutter Speed may or may not run in the Tattersalls Musidora Stakes.

In the winner's enclosure Teddy Grimthorpe, not only trusted adviser to the filly's owner, Khalid Abdullah, but also chairman of this most special racecourse, is awaiting Gosden's report.

It rained and rained on Kanvesmire - but you can still enjoy a little red wine under your brollyCredit: Alan Crowhurst

The problem is, having experienced next to no rain across the whole of April, the Knavesmire has been subjected to a proper drenching since midday. The ground has gone from fast at the start of the week – which would have suited Shutter Speed – to soft, which will not suit Shutter Speed.

Explaining why he is not walking the course with Gosden, Grimthorpe answers: "I've walked it already." Asked how he found it to be, he says with the sort of positivity one would expect of a devoted racecourse chairman: "Perfect!"