Eric Winter, who has been designing the cross-country course at MARS Badminton Horse Trials since 2017, declared himself to be delighted – ecstatic, even – at how well his track rode.

‘I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the good horses made it look – by 12.30pm I was on the phone to my wife, saying that there was a 75% strike rate of clear rounds at that stage [the final tally was 34 clears representing 58%],’ he said. ‘The riders said it was “readable” and I think it flowed well.’

He was pleased with how well the frangible pins worked – crucial to safety nowadays (‘it’s the way we have to go in the sport’) – in particular the ones used for the first time on the ‘houses’ at the LeMieux Village (fence 18ab).

Among the rides that particularly impressed him was that of Holly Richardson on her first ride, Ballyneety Silver Service, who rose 33 places after dressage to 23rd after cross-country with the first round inside the optimum time. ‘She was really impressive and showed more experienced riders that the time could be achieved.’

Eric also singled out Sarah Bullimore’s performance on her home-bred 10-year-old, Corimiro – ‘I thought “wow”, she looked as if she was just out for a hack and only last year the horse was in the 8/9yo class at Blenheim’ – and, of course, Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. ‘What can you say about them? Ros looks as if she has all the time in the world. I hope they win; Graffalo is the horse of his generation, the ultimate athlete with proper eventing breeding that goes back 40 or 50 years.’

The life of an international designer is hectic. On Monday morning, Eric is catching a 6am flight to Sweden, where he is working on the Young Rider and Junior European Championships course at Segersjo, and then he will be off to France for Chaumont en Vexin.