Popular veterans return as Queen's Cup provides racing's highlight on Easter Saturday

You would call it horseracing's Northern Swing if you could be sure of the fixtures panning out this way every year – the Lincoln, Good Friday at Newcastle, Easter Saturday at Musselburgh, on to Liverpool and then the Scottish Grand National. The focus in our sport doesn't seem to stay north of The Wash for very long, but by the time this run of Saturdays is over, the ITV Racing crew will have forgotten how to reach the M25.

A day's racing at Musselburgh is all about a good time, so it's wholly appropriate to see names like Pol Roger and Gincident among the runners in the opening contest. This is what's called 'setting the tone'. For the unenlightened, a gincident is the drinking version of a snaccident; in both, initial good intentions of restraint quickly give way to overindulgence.

The feature race, the Tote Summer World Pool Queen's Cup, is a pleasing blend of quality and quantity, with a few familiar old lags in the mix. Nicholas T and Euchen Glen, respectively aged 11 and ten, would be seen as getting a bit long in the tooth if they turned up for the Grand National next week, so they really are very senior indeed in the context of a Flat race.