'It's like us on holiday jumping in the pool - it's a nice feeling for them'

Scorching, searing, sizzling, sweltering – those adjectives will be red-hot in popularity to describe potentially record temperatures, but for yards across Britain, there is a new race to start the week. It’s time to beat the heat.

The clock hits 6am and it is already 17C at the Wilmcote yard of Olly Murphy near Stratford, with leg-ups under way as first lot pulls out sharpish.

Murphy’s reduced summer jumping string head to the six-furlong Wexford sand gallop for a light canter, while the majority of the four remaining lots, each around 40 minutes, consist of winter horses in their early walking and trotting stages.