I've fallen for the Flat - and it's so much more joyous than tiresome jumps talk

There's been something quite joyous about Newmarket's July festival this week. I think it's the way the meeting almost creeps up on you before you even know it, so you're not feeling remotely fatigued by all the talk before it's actually begun.

That's par for the course on the Flat, when these great meetings come thick and fast. Newmarket is the follow-up to Royal Ascot, then soon it will be Goodwood, the Ebor meeting and before you know it that magical weekend when we have the St Leger and Irish Champions Weekend.

It's certainly a pleasant contrast to the endless hype around a certain meeting in March, accompanied by tiresome tweets about the fact it has started spitting with rain ten miles away that generally begin a month beforehand.