Classic rematch the pinnacle of Lingfield's powerhouse finals day

It is still within the lifespan of many all-weather runners that Good Friday was only for stable open days and cake sales. You would need to shift a lot of Victoria sponge to raise the £1.4 million now on offer across three cards, more than two-thirds of it on Lingfield's All-weather Championships Finals Day.

For one day of the year, Arena Racing Company defies its parsimonious reputation and becomes racing's Easter bunny. Even the supporting cards at Bath and Newcastle, Arc stablemates of Lingfield, eschew the usual anonymity of Bank Holiday fixtures: the biggest winners there will take home £37,350 and £56,710 respectively.

But they are shoulders built to support the head. Good Friday racing has always been about Lingfield, ever since the concept was announced shortly before Master The World won his maiden as a two-year-old in 2013.

Far from upsetting the natural order of things, as a few dissenting voices claimed at the time, finals day has created one. Good horses occasionally dipped into the all-weather season before, plundering what big pots there were and leaving without so much as an 'au revoir'. With anything up to twice the first prize of the Lincoln available on finals day, that is now much more often an 'a bientot'.

Winter Derby rivals clash again

The top prize of £124,500 will go to the winner of the Betway Easter Classic. That race looked in genuine danger of stepping on the toes of the Winter Derby when it was first proposed, but now they combine nicely into an opportunity for either emphasis or revenge, which has probably never been felt so keenly as this year.

Master The World (winner of the £150,000 Betfred Mile at the Qatar Goodwood Festival last August, by the way) was awarded the Winter Derby in the stewards' room after Mr Owen was adjudged to have caused interference after hanging badly right. They renew rivalry with more than just an extra £70,000 on the line and Mr Owen again drawn on Master The World's inside.

The storytellers will understandably be focusing on those two runners, but it is far from certain to be a match. Victory Bond, favourite for last year's John Smith's Cup, could yet head the betting, while Utmost has been driven down the opposite carriageway on the increasingly fashionable route from all-weather maidens to big races.

These are the sort of horses the all-weather might once have only dreamed of attracting. Now it can fill six races with them.

Stars galore in action

The Mile has attracted a Group 2 runner-up (Second Thought) and a former Dubai competitor (Arcanada). Corinthia Knight, for the three-year-old event, was fourth in the Super Sprint and second in the Sirenia. In the sprint, Kachy has been second in a Group 1 and Gifted Master is another whose connections felt no need to go as far as the Middle East this year. In that race, the relative task facing last year's first two, Kimberella and Gracious John, who both arrive in fair form, says plenty about this meeting's trajectory.

The all-weather season has been about more than Good Friday and a few fast-track qualifiers peppered through the winter. The championships have really hit the headlines this season, partly down to their format of favouring number of wins over prize-money.

Kudos to Luke Morris, Godolphin and Kodiac, already guaranteed the champion jockey, owner and sire titles. The other three championships, each with £10,000 up for grabs, will be decided on the last day of the season.

The trainer title has been close for a while between Archie Watson and Mick Appleby, who before Wolverhampton's meeting on Thursday evening were on 35 and 38 winners respectively. Appleby has no further darts to throw, so Watson's target is set between his nine runners – six at Newcastle, three at Lingfield.

Race for the title - 300 miles apart

One of those heading north is Captain Lars, who has been one half of the winter's best story. He and Spare Parts are tied on seven apiece as the horses with most wins during the all-weather season. Countback has been unable to separate them, so there will be a private race between them, 300 miles and two and a half hours apart, to decide the title.

An administrative error has cost Spare Parts, who runs in the mile championship at Lingfield, a better chance in the apprentice handicap on the same card. It would be cruel if he were to lose it on those grounds, so maybe the fairest outcome in the circumstances – and maybe the most satisfactory outcome of all for neutrals – would be for neither to make the first four and duly share the prize.

Newcastle's two feature races take place after Captain Lars has left. The Betway Handicap, a 0-100 over 1m4f, carries an £85,000 prize fund very rarely seen outside of races with an upper ratings limit.

The £100,000 32Red Burradon Stakes has achieved what none of the Lingfield races has thus far, gaining Listed status in just its second year. That is no doubt thanks in part to its place as the final leg of the European road to the Kentucky Derby.

As it stands, Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn will be invited to Churchill, but Gronkowski, who doesn't even have black type yet, would get the spot instead should he finish in the first four on Friday.

At Bath, which is subject to a 7.30am inspection following persistent rain on Thursday, the feature is a £60,000 handicap for three-year-olds over 1m3½f. Last year Mark Johnston ran three in the race, including Permian. He does the same again this time, with Lynwood Gold, Baileys Excelerate and Baghdad taking on a deep-looking field that includes Zetland Stakes fourth Rastrelli.

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