For flat-racing trainers, this is the exciting time of year. “There you are – a line-up of dreams,” said one to me as the coming season’s two-year-olds trained on the Lambourn gallops.

But it is far from being a happy new year for racing. Bloodstock prices are plummeting, owners are cutting back. Great Leighs, the first new racetrack for 71 years, has gone into administration. And big race sponsors are becoming hard to find.