Why there is absolutely nothing wrong with either soft ground or Champions Day

There is nothing wrong with staging major Flat races on soft ground. There is most definitely nothing wrong with doing that in the autumn. There is therefore also nothing wrong with Qipco British Champions Day.

It will always have its detractors. There is nothing wrong with that. Nobody should be forced to like anything and it is perfectly legitimate to hanker after a time when the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes was staged at Ascot in late September and the Champion Stakes took place (on the same day as it does now) at Newmarket as an aperitif to the Cesarewitch.

The reality, however, is what we have now is better than what we had then. Storytellers had an easy job on Saturday thanks to Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand, but in its ten stagings Champions Day has consistently delivered tremendous entertainment and top-quality racing. Where it differs to some of the year's other highlights, and one of the main reasons it attracts so much chuntering, is that it is racing and entertainment splattered with mud.