Mr Kondo was also forced to remove casings from the computer and blow cool air onto the machine with fans as the temperature in his home rose to 40 degrees in the hottest Japanese summer since 1946.

Both venues also have large so-called misting tents, where huge fans blow icy sprinkles of water on the horses, allowing them to cool down after a race.

Large lorries gave me a cool side wind - both refreshing and annoying as it would also blow my hat off.