Group 1 win the aim for team out to build on last year's gains

Don't be misled by David Simcock's early-season stats. As usual, the Newmarket trainer already has the numbers on the board, but they come from another successful all-weather campaign; as he freely admits, he has yet to get going on the turf.

"We had a team of about 25 all-weather horses but the majority of those are gone now and it's a different team for the turf," explains the trainer, who enjoyed his best season in terms of both winners and prize-money in 2016.

The month of April, however, is seldom his most prolific; we'll have to wait a bit to see the best from a string full of late-maturing, potentially progressive middle-distance types.