Saturday racing: what's on TV and where to watch it

For racing fans, the post-Cheltenham/pre-Aintree gulf can be a difficult time. Supporters of classy types got their fix at Meydan last weekend but for those who need a fiendishly difficult handicap to get their juices flowing, it's been a dry few weeks.

If that is you then rejoice, for the Lincoln is finally here and it does not get much more fiendish than 22 horses, half of whom's level of fitness has to be taken on trust, spread across a straight track and going at it hammer and tongs for a mile.

If you're still not convinced the Lincoln belongs in the file marked devilishly difficult, then perhaps the fact you'd have to go back to 2010 for the last time the winner returned at a single-figure price will convince you.

For someone looking for an even tougher task, there's always the Spring Double – stick your Lincoln winner in a double with the Grand National winner and never work again.

Whatever happens you can watch it, along with three other races from Doncaster and three from Kempton, on ITV4 (Sky channel 120; Freeview 30; Virgin 118). And do not forget The Opening Show, which runs from 10am until 11.

What's on the undercard

The action at Doncaster gets underway with the Listed Cammidge Stakes (1.50), a race usually for sprinters with a preference for soft ground. Last year's winner Mobsta, who is exactly that, faces slightly quicker conditions this time around with the ground described as good to soft.

The Spring Mile, at 2.25, is over the same course and distance as the Lincoln – for which it is a consolation race – and consequently the stalls from which the first few home come from is often of as much interest as the winner itself.

That may be doing the winner a disservice however as, with it taking a rating of 97 to get into the Lincoln, the Spring Mile has been the launching pad for far more Group-winning careers than the feature.

Eight of the last ten winners have been four-year-olds – whereas five of the last six Lincoln's have gone to horses aged five or six.

Belardo (James Doyle): winning the Doncaster MileCredit: Edward Whitaker

The final race from Doncaster getting terrestrial coverage is the Listed Doncaster Mile, inconveniently on the round course for those seeking further clues on the draw. Last year's winner Belardo went on to land the Group 1 Lockinge before finding only Tepin too good in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot.

Over at Kempton, the Listed Magnolia Stakes has attracted a classy field and is supplemented by two competitive handicaps though, in the 6f handicap's five-year history, the biggest SP returned is 6-1, while the Rosebery has gone to four horses at single-figure prices in that time.

Is there anything worth watching away from ITV4?

The Brocklesby was won last year by subsequent Group 1 Middle Park winner The Last Lion and used to be the first race on Doncaster's card – and thus signify the start of the Flat turf season.

However, it now comes after the ITV4 cameras have switched off, but is still available on the soon to be renamed At The Races (Sky 415, Virgin 534) and has two novelty aspects to it this year.

The first is that there will be two of them. Yep. Two Brocklesbys. The second is that in division two George Baker saddles Juriprudance, a filly who achieves the rare feat of bringing a form figure into what has traditionally been the first two-year-old race of the year. That figure is a 3 – and was achieved at Saint-Cloud nine days ago.

Early risers, or late finishers if you like to do a Friday night properly, can also tune in to At The Races for the start of The Championships – billed as the 'grand finals' of Australian racing.

Consequently it is a bit of a who's who of the Australian racing scene, with Chautauqua the headline act on a card that features four back-to-back Group 1s – the Inglis Sires' (5.10am), BMW Australian Derby (5.50), Darley T J Smith Stakes (6.30) and The Star Doncaster Mile (7.10) – and four Group 3s.