The future flat champions you could comply with this season, how the Premier League is hurting the Grand National and the reality about how lengthy Constitution Hill can maintain going: RACING CONFIDENTIAL

It’s the time of year when you cannot help but look for clues. Flat racing returns to these shores at Doncaster on Saturday and with it comes the promise of new champions and future stars.

At this point 12 months ago, all the chatter was about City Of Troy and what he might achieve. Some will say he never lived up to his exalted billing but that is churlish in the extreme – how can a horse that won the Epsom Derby, Coral Eclipse and Juddmonte International have left you disappointed?

Put it another way: City Of Troy will certainly be missed this season and there isn’t another flat horse in training that evoked the same level of debate and discussion as that flaxen-maned flying machine. He’d have won everything this summer.

So who will take his mantle? Aidan O’Brien has a number of regally bred horses to unleash in the coming months, many of whom showed glittering potential last autumn. The Lion in Winter, not seen since showing plenty of dash at York last August, was thought to be the one to follow.

O’Brien revealed earlier this week, though, that the colt has been slow to come to hand after niggling fitness issues and might not make the Betfred 2,000 Guineas, the race for which he had been favourite through the winter. He’s ticking along but not quickly enough for O’Brien’s liking.

Still, it’s not as if this all-conquering stable won’t be represented at Newmarket on the first Saturday in May and it was fascinating to see pictures of O’Brien’s horses working at Ballydoyle this week, with one catching the eye in particular.

Twain, brilliantly named, carries the orange and blue silks of Michael Tabor and went into notebooks last October when he thundered away with a Leopardstown maiden by six lengths at odds of 28-1; it was a performance that took connections by surprise but it was no fluke.

A week later, O’Brien pitched Twain into the Group One Criterium International at Saint-Cloud, on the outskirts of Paris. He won that, too, despite the short turnaround and his jockey, Ryan Moore, was taken with his relentless ability to gallop.

He had gone under the radar through the winter but his work at Ballydoyle has been pleasing and it feels significant that O’Brien has entrusted Rachel Richardson to put Twain through his paces on the gallops at Ballydoyle.

Richardson is a crucial cog in O’Brien’s team. She used to ride Auguste Rodin, O’Brien’s Derby winner of 2023, and spent the second half of last summer partnering City Of Troy after taking over from Dean Gallagher.

It is far too early to say that Twain is going to become a champion – he is 7-1 for the 2,000 Guineas – but the indications re that he is going to be more than useful. Watching his progress over the coming months will be fascinating.

All eyes on Aintree 

The end is approaching for the first David Power Jockeys Cup and, barring a calamity, Harry Skelton is going to be the inaugural champion.

When the competition was launched at Cheltenham last November, it was clear how determined he was to win it and the mission is close to being successful.

But just because Skelton has things sewn up doesn’t mean there isn’t anything left to play for – far from it. The two days at Aintree next week will be full of high-stakes clashes as Nico de Boinville and Harry Cobden are separated by just eight points with two days of competition remaining.

Jockeys accrue points for their finishing positions in races shown live on ITV and the difference between finishing second and third is £100,000; Skelton’s bounty for winning will be £500,000, with £200,000 to the runner-up.

De Boinville and Cobden are ferociously competitive and they will be riding with all they have until the end. Plenty of people have knocked the innovation but anything that can potentially bring new viewers and interest to the sport is a good thing.

‘It’s more relaxed at Aintree compared to Cheltenham,’ says Cobden. ‘But it’s a fantastic meeting and the prize money is excellent and the competition is huge. You go out there and give it everything you’ve got as this is what it’s all about.’

There’s only one Grand National 

There is plenty of frustration among Aintree officials that the behemoth of the Premier League has, once again, cast a shadow over the Randox Grand National meeting.

The Merseyside derby will be played next Wednesday, the day before the National meeting begins, but as far back as February there was an understanding that Liverpool and Everton would have their game shifted to the Tuesday evening to give breathing space to the racing.

If that wasn’t frustrating enough, Everton’s home fixture against Arsenal being scheduled for Saturday lunchtime – three and a half hours before the National field come under starters’ orders – is an even bigger nonsense.

Traditionalists are decrying the importance of the Grand National, given the modifications that have been made down the years, but it’s place in the sporting calendar is beyond question and this column has long argued that no other race fixture should take place on National day.

Everton’s game against Arsenal should have been played on the Sunday – you can be sure David Moyes would have welcomed the extra preparation time for that clash – to leave the Grand National front and centre. There is far too much football on television. There is only one Grand National.

The truth about Constitution Hill 

A curious reaction to Nicky Henderson’s announcement that he is considering sending Constitution Hill to Aintree a week on Thursday. Rather than welcoming the prospect of seeing this magnificent beast in action so quickly after his Cheltenham mishap, Henderson was accused of running scared.

Everyone wants to see Constitution Hill run in Ireland and just because Henderson has thrown in the possibility of going to Liverpool in between, that doesn’t mean he has aborted the idea of running at the Punchestown Festival.

Now Constitution Hill has lost his unbeaten record, thanks to that tumble in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, connections have nothing to fear about running him more.

If all goes well at Liverpool, he won’t be done and dusted for the summer. There will be time for one last dance.