It can feel like racing is on its knees right now - but City Of Troy is the one horse who could give us an escape from reality

Racing, right now, feels a bit like that Father Ted episode where the Holy Stone of Clonrichert is being upgraded to a class two relic by the Vatican and three bishops are sent to Craggy Island to perform the ceremony. It's the one where they teach Jack to say "that would be an ecumenical matter". 

For the few of you who haven't seen it, let's just say the whole occasion doesn't exactly go according to plan as one bishop ends up leaving in a painted minivan to become a hippie, one departs in an ambulance and the other is carried out in a coffin. The episode ends with Ted turning to Dougal and saying: "Went pretty well, I thought."

The carry-on out in Craggy Island is not as far removed from the reality of racing as you might think as we continue to bury our heads in the sand and believe everything is okay and going grand. Spoiler alert: it's not.