IT’S that time of year when the seasons converge. We’ve been through those weeks, during which the jumps have been bubbling away just under the surface under the last throes of the flat, with the odd occasion on which it has burst through. It’s about to change now though, Arc day over, Champions’ Day over, the first shoots of Cheltenham yesterday, Galway today, Aintree tomorrow, and horses to follow all over the place.

Of course, the champions of the flat still have to be crowned, and it looks like that apprentices’ title is going to go all the way down the stretch, and there is the Breeders’ Cup late in the night and the Melbourne Cup early in the morning. And there is the Group 1 William Hill Futurity Trophy at Doncaster today.