And so it came to pass. As this column guessed last week, King Charles did not appear at Randwick for The Everest on Saturday, despite the vain attempts by Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys to bounce him into it.

But look, who could doubt V’landys knows the value of publicity? In any capacity, people were still talking about his brainchild that’s become one of the biggest racing events on the calendar. So much so, it’s dislodging others – and aren’t people voting with their feet.