Juveniles may lead charge but Guineas contenders are waiting in the wings

A second wave of snow has yet to clear from the roadsides around Herridge and a third may be on its way but, despite the worst efforts of the Beast from the East, Richard Hannon approaches the new season with a belief that his horses are ready for a flying start. He'll be operating without the mainstay of the 2017 campaign, but the search for another is under way and there is no shortage of candidates.

"After being slightly unlucky in the 2,000 Guineas, Barney Roy turned out the horse we hoped he would be when he won the St James's Palace," says the 42-year-old. "His going leaves a bit of a hole and we have to find a Group 1 winner among the two-year-olds, but we had over 100 juvenile winners in 2017, I think we have a nice bunch this time and that's where our main strength may lie.

"I don't know if there's another Barney Roy among the three-year-olds, but then we didn't know quite how good Barney Roy would turn out at this time last year.