Gosden standing between O'Brien and total domination

Racing has been somewhat simple of late.

Aidan O'Brien wins the Classics. Then, after winning the Classics, he wins the next set of Classic trials, or at least almost all of them. For his latest trick, the bespectacled genius seeks to win a Classic and two Classic trials all in the same afternoon.

The first big battle was won by Churchill, a horse whose war may yet come at Epsom. Having mopped up the Qipco 2,000 Guineas, O'Brien then saddled the first two home in the 1,000 Guineas, with Winter upsetting favourite Rhododendron, just a few minutes after a Ballydoyle trio had dominated Leopardstown's Derrinstown Derby Trial.

On the Roodee there was more of the same.

Venice Beach led home the latest one-two-three in the Chester Vase and older chum Deauville snared the Huxley Stakes, one afternoon before Cliffs Of Moher bagged the Dee Stakes.

Were it not for John Gosden and Frankie Dettori, who combined to edge out by far the sport's strongest stable in the Cheshire Oaks and Ormonde Stakes, O'Brien would be winning everything. Ryan Moore would be winning nearly everything.

On a Saturday that has something to please all tastes, O'Brien and Moore will probably win a fair bit more. They team up at Lingfield, where wide-margin Gowran maiden winner Sir John Lavery (named after an Irish painter) will surely be sent off an odds-on favourite for the Betfred Derby Trial.

Most bookmakers quote the son of – guess who? – Galileo at between 9-1 and 12-1 for the Investec Derby. That means in the Epsom market he trails only Churchill, Cliffs Of Maher and the Gosden-trained Cracksman. Gosden has two of those trying to beat him, plus a pair of outsiders against Coolmore's Pocketfullofdreams in the Lingfield Oaks Trial.

Thank heavens for Gosden. As Churchill's First World War comrade Lord Kitchener once said: "Your country needs you."

Just the 27 runners in the Victoria Cup

Practice is everything. With that in mind, the Totescoop6 Victoria Cup should help loosen those mental muscles with a view to the Hunt Cup, Britannia and Wokingham Stakes that will be staged over some or all of Ascot's straight track next month.

Many an hour can be happily spent trying to deduce which part of the royal racecourse is the best place to be in one of the cavalry charges that will entertain, perplex and frustrate us over the coming months. With 27 horses tackling the £105,000 puzzle, this particular offering is far from simple.There is, however, a clear favourite in the William Haggas-trained Newbury Spring Cup third Fastnet Tempest, on whose back Josephine Gordon gets another chance to shine.

To come home in front, Gordon's mount will need to thwart some rivals almost as accustomed as the Queen to travelling up Ascot's straight course, namely last year's Wokingham winner Outback Traveller, GM Hopkins, successful in the 2015 Hunt Cup, and Heaven's Guest, victorious in the same season's International Handicap.

More used to giving out Ascot prizes than receiving them are the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, whose Carntop contests the Listed Carey Group Buckhounds Stakes.

Haydock provides a mixed blessing

Once upon a time mixed meetings were a regular feature of the British racing calendar, most famously on what is now Sandown's jumps finale afternoon.

They remain the norm in Ireland – what would Galway be without a bit of everything? – but not so on the neighbouring island, where the Pertemps Network Swinton Hurdle card is set to be the only properly mixed programme staged in 2017.

In its heyday on the May bank holiday Monday, the Swinton was the most valuable handicap hurdle in Britain. That is no longer the case, but it is still a competitive heat, one in which the new champion trainer Nicky Henderson and the man he deposed, Paul Nicholls, have two of the leading contenders in Peace And Co and Zubayr.

Will Rain reign by the seaside?

Even the most ardent jumps fans would probably now concede the time has come for the Flat to rule – did we mention they race at Hexham this afternoon – and when the Flat rules, so does Ballydoyle.

On this bumper Saturday, it is not only at Lingfield, and indeed also the Curragh's first fixture of 2017, where O'Brien is in action.

For the second year running the French Guineas are being held at Deauville, this time spread over a weekend. On the first of two days by the seaside it's the fillies' turn, with O'Brien's three runners in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches including Rain Goddess, the mount of Winter's Newmarket-winning jockey Wayne Lordan.

Returning to Lingfield, should we read much into the fact Ryan Moore has opted to skip the Gallic Classic and instead concentrate on a Lingfield Listed race. Are we going to see something rather memorable from Sir John Lavery?

Recent history suggests we very probably will.