Brits can only hope scale of Cheltenham Festival pasting was just a one-off

There was a rumour in the summer. Sometimes such murmurings are founded on nothing. For example, late morning on the final day of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, numerous journalists in the main press room were being told by colleagues away from the track that the Duke of Edinburgh had died.

It wasn’t just us. Senior figures at the Jockey Club had been given the same steer by “a normally very reliable source”. As a result, after Cheltenham supremo Ian Renton greeted Princess Anne, he was required to say: “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Ma’am, but could you please confirm whether or not your father is alive?”

He very much was alive and, thankfully, remained that way for well over a year, yet Renton still had to make the awkward inquiry. It was a little window into our journalistic world, for those of us who report on racing are frequently required to ask uncomfortable questions – which brings me back to that summer rumour.