It is hard to say which seemed more familiar here yesterday – the way a horse prepared by Jim Bolger ripped off the gloves so willingly, in an unsparing duel for the Derrinstown Derby Trial, or the gently mocking deportment of his trainer in the winner's enclosure afterwards.

The track for all seasons comes to the rescue today, when the Classic trials at Lingfield are switched from a saturated turf course to the adjacent all-weather circuit. And while they duly lose much of their pertinence to Epsom, usually ascribed to the hill, for much the same reason they are arguably rather stronger than in recent years.

An odds-on favourite already bestrides the Epsom betting, and the flat-out success of Mickdaam in the trial staged across the mire here yesterday did nothing to alter that.

Born To Sea will test O'Brien's hot favourite as trainer aims for Newmarket Classic double

Though the stable has failed to muster a starter in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday, the changing complexion of Godolphin still leaves much to anticipate. For one thing, Mahmood al-Zarooni has two strong chances in the fillies' Classic the following day, in Discourse and Lyric Of Light, a year after sealing his promotion to supervise a yard in his own right through Blue Bunting – who was relieving a Godolphin drought, in both the early Classics, going back to 2002.

After such a miserable experience at Aintree, it will come as a profound relief for the Turf community to turn its gaze today upon a featureless Suffolk plain. Not that the Rowley Mile is entirely flat. In fact, it is precisely the opportunity to acquaint potential Classic candidates with the Dip – even as a race enters its decisive phase – that gives the Craven meeting its purpose. That is most obviously true of those whose rehearsals qualify them to return in barely a fortnight, for the Guineas, but will also apply to some whose target is instead the Investec Derby over the rollercoaster at Epsom.

After slipping down the scree of the moral high ground last year, the world's most famous steeplechase finds itself clinging ever more precariously to past glories.

In the event, it was not Chantal Sutherland who would make the most insistent stand on behalf of the rights of the female. Entering the tunnel between the saddling ring and paddock, owners and trainers escorting runners in the world's richest race suddenly found themselves obliged to stand and wait on the clarion instructions of Sheikh Mohammed's four-year-old daughter, Al Jalila. Her mortified mother, Princess Haya, hastened back to remonstrate; but the little sheikha had achieved her purpose and, to general amusement, was able to hurtle gaily down the vacated chute beneath the grandstand. It would prove only the prelude to a race of similarly unfettered celebration.

Early days, but already it is hard to resist the promise of many excitements ahead. The very first winner of a new turf season on the Flat – which began in Ireland yesterday, and opens in Britain on Saturday – had the decided look of a Royal Ascot two-year-old. And it would be fairly astonishing if the various Ballydoyle three-year-olds who then stretched their legs, after racing at the Curragh, failed to muster a Classic between them.

For Flat racing fans, that business at Aintree that has to be consigned to the formbook before full attention focuses on the purest form of the sport is frustratingly delayed this year; because of the religious calendar, no Grand National will ever have been run on a later date than this year's, on 14 April.

An exciting week for Flat racing kicks off with the climax of the Polytrack season: the Winter Derby card at Lingfield

Newcastle 2 Wolves 2

Two fairly momentous new chapters open on the Turf today. On the home front, an amended penalty structure is introduced ahead of the latest, dizzying revision to the whip rules. In Dubai, meanwhile, Silvestre De Sousa rides for Godolphin for the first time since accepting a post that accelerates his giddy rise through the ranks.

These midwinter weeks, albeit proving rather milder than last year, to the significant benefit of the Levy, are invariably the bleakest in the Turf calendar. Many Cheltenham contenders are taking a break, leaving a suitably dim, half-lit quality to the January programme. It is with corresponding envy, then, that those jockeys shivering at Wolverhampton today will look up to the monitors in the weighing room and see various colleagues riding at the opening meeting of the 2012 Dubai Carnival.