IT is a pleasure to have turf flat racing back after several months, though the first three meetings in Ireland and Britain were run on ground so testing that it would not have been out of place in the depths of winter.

Nonetheless, it still requires that one horse runs quicker from A to B in order to win and the time merit of those performances may be measured, even if their relevance to races run on firmer later in the campaign remains to be seen.

Three races at a straight mile last Saturday at Doncaster made for ready comparison and indicated that the ground was borderline heavy and soft.

The 32Red-sponsored Lincoln Handicap was the fastest of the trio, but not by much, and a 109 timefigure from the winner Addeybb is more what you would associate with a future listed winner than a future group winner (which is what some are predicting for him), for all that he did it well.

He was a bit faster than Zabeel Prince had been in winning a listed contest shortly before (105 timefigure), though sectionals show that the runners did a bit too much early in that race, and faster again than High Acclaim (95 timefigure) in the consolation race that came second on the card. You would normally expect the difference between the Lincoln and the Spring Mile to be a few pounds more than that.

Marginally the best time on the card came in the Listed Cammidge Trophy, in which Perfect Pasture coped admirably with conditions to post a 113 performance on the clock.

Izzer has what may prove to be the short-lived distinction of being the top-rated two-year-old in Britain and Ireland courtesy of a workmanlike success in what looked a slightly substandard Brocklesby Stakes on pedigree and paddock appearance. A timefigure of 89 is 15 to 20 below what might be needed come Royal Ascot but is a decent platform.

Proschema was easily fastest of three winners at a mile and a quarter at Doncaster on Saturday, and his timefigure of 93 suggests this scopey son of Declaration Of War could do well in ordinary handicaps.

HEAVY

The Going Stick reading at Doncaster on Sunday was fractionally lower than it had been 24 hours before, and was the lowest since the same fixture in 2010. Times suggested the surface was indeed even more testing and properly “heavy”.

The ground did not prevent First Contact (seven furlong novice stakes) and Naadirr (six furlong handicap) from running useful times, worth figures of 100 and 102. First Contact’s only defeat out of three starts at seven furlongs to date was by a short-head to the promising Walk In The Sun.

None of the handicaps produced an especially good time, but the win of Archippos (timefigure of 85) came nearest, and the Philip Kirby-trained five-year-old is proving versatile and consistent.