Press Association Sport Staff have picked out five things that you cannot afford to miss in the racing week.
TROPHY TRIUMPH
Doncaster stages the last Group One contest of the British season in Saturday's Racing Post Trophy and it will be fascinating to see which horses Aidan O'Brien fields in the mile heat. The Pentagon and Saxon Warrior have been two of the headline-grabbers from the Ballydoyle outfit this summer and if either of those two turn up, the Doncaster management will surely be thrilled. Tim Easterby long ago set his sights on this race with York winner Wells Farhh Go and a home-trained winner would certainly prove a popular result.
CHELTENHAM CURTAIN-RAISER
The idea of the Festival in March is already raising the pulses of jumps fans, so the return of racing to Cheltenham will only further heighten the anticipation of the National Hunt season proper really kicking into gear. Billed as The Showcase meeting, the Ryman Stationery Cheltenham Business Club Novices' Chase is the key event on Friday's card while Saturday's programme features no less than five class two events that always draw good fields.
AINTREE ACTION
While the wraps remain on the Grand National fences for another few weeks, Aintree begins its season in earnest with a classy Sunday card starring the 188Bet Monet's Garden Old Roan Chase. The Grade Two event honours Nicky Richards' ever-popular grey who won the race three times, including a memorable eclipse of dual Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Kauto Star in 2007. The two-and-a-half-mile heat usually draws some decent names and this year should be no exception.
HILL HONOURS
Newbury signs off for the Flat season with a two-day fixture boasts a couple of Pattern contests on Saturday. The Horris Hill Stakes, alternately known as the Worthington's Alzheimer's Society Stakes, is a Group Three heat for juveniles and the seven-furlong trip can sometimes take some getting if the weather has not been favourable. The other highlight is the Worthington's OCSL Stakes, better known as the St Simon, which commemorates an unbeaten racehorse in the 1880s who went on to be a seminal sire. The race itself has not been quite so successful in recent years, but the likes of Further Flight and Jupiter Island feature on the roll of honour.
SAINT-CLOUD DOUBLE
It is a Group One double at Saint-Cloud on Sunday with both the Criterium International and the Criterium de Saint-Cloud taking place. The first-named heat is contested over seven furlongs and has spawned some future stars in recent years, not least subsequent Arc winners Dalakhani and Bago. Thunder Snow lifted the prize for Godolphin in 2016. The Criterium de Saint-Cloud is over a mile and a quarter, with Fame And Glory being a notable victor for Aidan O'Brien back in 2008.
FIXTURES (FLAT in capitals)
Monday: Plumpton, PONTEFRACT, WINDSOR
Tuesday: Exeter, KEMPTON, NEWCASTLE, YARMOUTH
Wednesday: KEMPTON, NEWMARKET, Sedgefield, Worcester
Thursday: Carlisle, CHELMSFORD, Ludlow, Southwell
Friday: Cheltenham, DONCASTER, NEWBURY, WOLVERHAMPTON
Saturday: Cheltenham (ITV4), DONCASTER (ITV4), KELSO, NEWBURY (ITV4), WOLVERHAMPTON
Sunday: Aintree, Wincanton