Shun the lightly raced four-year-olds for two experienced mud-lovers in high-quality Lincoln

Every racing fan knows a Flat fanatic who bangs the Lincoln drum before a Cheltenham Festival race is even run. 

The day that marks the gradual phasing out of top-class jumping from the weekly agenda in Britain is here and, on paper, this season’s Lincoln has all the ingredients to return to its past glories following an underwhelming 2022 running that, with the benefit of hindsight, was as substandard as the Doncaster card itself. 

Twelve months ago a modest eight lined up on Town Moor for the Spring Mile, the Lincoln’s consolation race run 70 minutes earlier. The poor turnout possibly created a domino effect as the Lincoln form worked out unusually poorly. Just six of the 22 horses to line up in the big one are rated higher now (five of those only moderately), and 12th-placed Mujtaba is the only runner who proved to have any significant amount in hand (16lb higher now).