THE LINCOLN Handicap over a mile at Newcastle signals the start of the Flat season on Saturday.
Here at the Flared Nostril things are abuzz with gossip and inquiry.
This year's Lincoln is different this year in that it has moved from Doncaster, which is being renovated. Newcastle's clerk of the course says the ground next to the stands side in running faster than elsewhere, so it is imperative any selection has a high draw.
Lots of future winners will come from this race, and the handicapper will know everything about most of them.
However, BAZART in Kevin Burke's Yorkshire yard is a lightly-raced French import. Burke is a master of getting the best out of horses and this winner of a £10,000 Longchamp race last April is expected to make up into at least a listed race horse. Of the rest, Gentleman's Deal - bred in the purple and better treated on turf than sand - is expected to go well and there has been money for Rio Riva. Arguably, My Paris is the pick on the whole of last year's form and Kevin Ryan is another canny trainer.
We will have to wait for the day but BAZART is worth noting for later, whatever he does on Saturday.
The Spring Double - a double comprising the Lincoln and the Grand National - was a popular bet, but may not be so fashionable these days.
The list of Aintree contenders chops and changes and it is still in the balance whether JOE'S EDGE will get into the field off his low handicap mark. A 50-1 winner at Cheltenham and very welll weighted on that effort, Ferdy Murphy's horse would be fancied (he is around 16s), but again we have to wait to see if he gets a run.