The burning question: can Appleby double down on last year's trainers' title?

And so, more than two weeks after its turf baptism at Doncaster, the Flat season kicks into gear with Newmarket’s Craven meeting. Whether this stuttering start is the right way to anoint a new campaign has been oft debated without a satisfactory resolution, but it still feels disjointed.

Even though Britain stages the first Classics, trials have already been run in Ireland and France. Newmarket hosts three itself, followed by two more at Newbury on Saturday, after which the cast of three-year-olds returns to Newmarket for the real thing less than three weeks later. It all happens with indecent haste.

This is a seminal week for owners who indulged in Classic dreams over the winter and the Rowley Mile will be littered with burst balloons as harsh reality intrudes. Trainers, too, will feel the heat, and none has as much to play for as Charlie Appleby.