No two seasons are ever alike in preparing horses for the Newmarket Classics

Opinion is divided over whether Classic candidates should have the freedom of the Rowley Mile across which to gallop when established trials are due to unfold later in the day. But we can surely agree on one thing.

Last week’s Newmarket trials would have been greatly enhanced had the likes of Elarqam, Rajasinghe, Veracious and Wild Illusion contested them. But that’s not the same as saying the trials would have been beneficial for the horses concerned. That’s a call better left to their trainers.

What the Craven meeting reaffirmed was that no two scenarios are alike. Some years a trainer’s runners over the three days can carry all before them, in others they are barely sighted.