Something for everyone as familiar old names come to the fore on the Flat and over jumps

Just as the weather can't decide if it wants to lash us with rain or bathe us in unfamiliar sunshine, so racing is also in a transitional mood. We've had the Lincoln, so it must be the Flat season, but the Grand National is going to take over in about a fortnight, and now we've got a busy Saturday reflecting that muddled mood, with jumpers slogging through the Haydock mud and sprinters burning up the Musselburgh straight.

The Virgin Bet Queen's Cup, centrepiece of the card in Scotland, adds to the confusion by being a Flat race with a distinctly jumps flavour. The top two on the card are Metier and Tritonic, so surely this is a handicap hurdle?

Specifically, it raises memories of Ascot's valuable pre-Christmas hurdle of 2021, when Tritonic won and Metier was a game fourth. Now these versatile sorts will clash once more in a race Metier very nearly won last year, going down by just half a length to Wise Eagle.