BANK holiday Monday at Redcar, heavy rain around, welcome to British Summertime and welcome to the new Flat season.

Yes, not ideal conditions, but a few local trainers were happy to be back on turf, one of them being Alan Swinbank, who was all smiles after Another Go landed the maiden under Ben Curtis.

The winner really stuck to his task in the testing conditions and afterwards the winning trainer said: "Another Go has come on for his first run at Southwell; they always learn plenty there and hopefully he won't be rated too high."

A big field went to post for the seller and in the end it was the Keith Reveley-trained Affectionate Lady who stayed on from a long way back under a strong ride from Tom Eaves.

David Barron and Graham Gibbons, fresh from their big race success with Wolowitz at Lingfield on Good Friday, teamed up again for victory, this time with Bahama Moon in the one-mile handicap.

Bahama Moon had very good form in his native France and it will be no surprise if he continues to improve with this shrewd handler.

Doncaster is the normal curtain-raiser to the Flat season, so many will be looking forward to their two-day Lincoln meeting getting underway.

In the Lincoln itself, Frankie Dettori will ride previous winner Ocean Tempest. Amazingly, the talented jockey has never won this prestigious handicap.

John Ryan's inmate landed the first big race of the Flat season two years ago in the hands of Adam Kirby, who will instead ride stablemate Battle Of Marathon.

Ryan said: "Frankie knows him well enough and he's a straightforward horse. He had a little injury last season, but he's well now and we know races like the Lincoln suit him."

He added: "Adam rides Battle Of Marathon, but riding plans were made when Ocean Tempest had a light weight that he (Kirby) would not be able to do.

"He's fit and well and is ready to run."

Trainer Richard Fahey, who has won two of the last four runnings of the Lincoln, including 12 months ago with Gabrial, has a strong hand that includes Heaven's Guest, Rene Mathis, Farlow and Withernsea.

This time next week we will be looking forward to the world's most famous race, the Grand National, and with that in mind, there is a really fun charity event on this evening in the Buck Inn at Thornton Watlass.

It's the third year in a row the locals have raised money for several charities, including the Injured Jockeys Fund and the Alzheimer Society.

A preview of this year's race, along with a look back at some previous renewals, will go alongside a raffle and auction, with lots of excellent prizes up for grabs.

Everyone is welcome, and among the guests will be Gerry Scott, who rode the winner of the race in 1960 on Merryman, Middleham trainer Micky Hammond and big race commentator Darren Owen.