THE start of the flat (on turf) creeps up on you a bit, coming, as it does these days, just over a week after the Cheltenham Festival has finished and long before you have assimilated all the implications thereof. And before Fairyhouse, before Aintree, before Punchestown.

That said, there was a lot to be gleaned from Tote Irish Lincoln day at Naas last Sunday. Seven races, six individual winning trainers (Ger Lyons had a double), five individual winning riders (Chris Hayes and Colin Keane both had doubles).