IT might not have felt like it as the snow swirled around last weekend, but in the racing world, spring has sprung.

On Saturday, Doncaster will stage its Lincoln meeting, the traditional point at which the winter months of National Hunt racing vacate centre stage for the sunshine of the Flat. The switch is an early one this year, dictated by Easter falling at the end of March, but while spectators on the Town Moor this weekend might find themselves shivering, the summer days of Flat action are just around the corner.

Not, however, that you’d know it from looking out of the kitchen window of County Durham trainer Michael Dods. The snow piled up against the stable walls has just about melted, but staff scurry around with coats buttoned up to their necks and the wind whips straw from one side of the yard to the other. Here, at least, summer still feels a long way away.

“If you ask me, it’s much too early to be thinking about Flat racing on the turf,” said Dods, who saddled 62 winners in 2017 to confirm his position as County Durham’s most successful Flat trainer. “With the weather over the last couple of weeks, I don’t think you’ll find many trainers in the North who have their horses ready to roll.

“We’re definitely a bit behind where we’d like to be. We’ve been able to get the horses out every day, so I suppose you could say we haven’t actually missed any work, but with all the snow and rain, it’s been easy work rather than any of the faster stuff.

“The horses are well in themselves, but we haven’t been able to get the speed sessions into them that you’d like. They’re ready to get going, but there’s only really this weekend and then the Easter meeting at Redcar at the start of the season. We’ll really be aiming to get things going properly from the middle of April onwards.”

Dods has one horse entered this weekend, although Kings Gift is not a guaranteed runner in the Lincoln. He is likely to have “two or three” entries at Redcar on Easter Monday, but the experienced handler knows all about the importance of patience when it comes to plotting a season-long campaign.

He mastered the art with Mecca’s Angel, the stable star to end all stable stars who elevated his career to an entirely new level as she landed back-to-back runnings of the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes at York.

Mecca’s Angel was retired shortly after the second of those successes, and her departure from Denton Hall was always going to leave a huge gap to fill last season.

“We knew it would be a bit of a transitional season because horses like Mecca’s Angel don’t come around every day,” said Dods, who has around 60 horses at his base near Darlington. “We were never going to have the same kind of Group successes that she gave us, but we still had a successful season in terms of the number of winners and the way that we were able to bring some of the younger horses through.

“We had a nice crop of two-year-olds last year – some were more forwards than others – and hopefully they’ll train on into an exciting bunch of three-year-olds this season. Then we’ve been able to restock with another batch of two-year-olds that look pretty good.

“It’s early days for them, and we probably won’t know exactly what we’ve got for another two or three months’ time, but sitting here now, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t have another good year.”

Paul Mulrennan will continue as Dods’ senior jockey, with Connor Beasley, Andrew Mullen and Callum Rodriguez also set to play prominent roles after working in the yard throughout the winter.

Dods has also appointed Scottish rider Paula Muir as his new seven-pound claimer, and harbours high hopes for the 24-year-old, who has moved from Patrick Holmes’ base in Middleham.

“We’ve had a lot of luck with our young jockeys in the last few years,” he said. “Connor and Callum came through the ranks with us, and it’s been great to watch them go on and achieve good things with their careers.

“Hopefully, Paula will be the same. She’s had over 200 rides, mainly with Patrick Holmes, and has ridden 12 winners. She’s fitted in really well since she came to us, and rides really well too. I think she’ll do very well. She works hard in the yard and deserves some success.”

MICHAEL DODS’ STABLE GUIDE

OLDER HORSES

KIWI BAY

He’s 13 now, and still going strong. He owes us absolutely nothing, so the minute he starts falling out of love with the game, we’ll retire him, but he’s as fit and enthusiastic as ever. He obviously doesn’t have the same ability he once had, but he’s dropped down to a mark of 59 and I still think there’s races to be won with him. His body probably feels 13, but his head certainly doesn’t.

KINGS GIFT

He might start at Doncaster for us this weekend, or we might decide to leave it for a little while. We’ll see. He’s good enough to run in the Lincoln, but it’ll be difficult for a horse to come out and win a race like that against horses that have been running all winter in Dubai and are strapping fit. We gelded him over the winter, and I think that will have helped him. He’s rated 100, so realistically the targets will have to be good handicaps at York and places like that.

MABS CROSS

She did very well last year, winning four races and rounding off with a nice win in a Listed race at Musselburgh. We’ve always thought a lot of her, and although she’s up to 102 now, I think she can still come on. We’re not sure where we’ll start her yet, but you’d like to think she’d be capable of figuring in Listed or Group races later in the season.

INTENSE ROMANCE

We’ve got a few four-year-olds coming off successful three-year-old campaigns, and he’s another one. He had five wins and a dead-heat last year, and is rated 91 now. Life is going to be hard off that mark, but he’s wintered and I’d still be confident he’d have a good season.

HOLMESWOOD

Another four-year-old who won three on the spin for us last year. He got bogged down a bit towards the end of the season when we thought he’d run well at Haydock, but we’ve gelded him and he seems to have strengthened up a lot over the winter. Hopefully, he’ll run well in five-furlong sprints.

MOOLTAZEN

He’s come to us from John Gosden’s yard, having been purchased at a Horses in Training sale. He seems to be going quite well, and we’re thinking somewhere between eight and ten furlongs at the minute. I think he’s a horse that will do alright.

DAKOTA GOLD

He’s rated 100 and had a good season last year, although in the second half of the season he was probably running on ground that was too soft. He put in some good performances on ground that probably wasn’t ideal. If we could iron his problems in the starting stalls, that would be really helpful. Sort that out, and there’s a lot of ability there.

GET KNOTTED

He seems to like York, so we’ll probably build his campaign around there. He can run at either six or seven furlongs, but I think the secret to him is that he needs a good pace because he’s a really good traveller. It’s two years running that he’s won at York, so hopefully he’ll go back there and pick up some nice races.

THREE YEAR-OLDS

ARCAVALLO

He finished off last season finishing second in a sales race at Newmarket, and that was a really good run. He’s wintered well, and he’ll be running over five or six furlongs. He’s really come on physically over the winter, and I think he’ll do well.

BYRON’S CHOICE

He won a race for us at Carlisle, but to be honest, he was probably a bit disappointing last year. He’ll start on a mark of 77, and I think there could be quite a bit of improvement to come off that rating. He’s coming on nicely, and he’ll run at around seven furlongs.

JOHN KIRKUP

He looks well, but I think at the start of the season it’ll be a case of seeing if the handicapper has got him. He did well last season and will stay at around five or six furlongs. Hopefully, he will come on.

RUMSHAK

He skated in at Carlisle at the start of last season, but just wasn’t quite able to kick on from there. He’s had the winter off really, but he’s a nice mover and seems reasonably treated on a mark of 81.

MECCA’S SPIRIT

She was disappointing last year, there’s not really any getting away from that. She’ll be starting off on a mark of 58 and to be fair, she looks as though she’s strengthened up. She’ll be running at around seven furlongs, and hopefully she’ll come on from what she’s shown in her races so far.

TWO-YEAR OLDS

FLINT HILL

It’s still very early for the two-year-olds, and we won’t really know what we’ve got for another month or two. Some are more forwards than the others though, and this is probably one that will be out fairly soon. He’s by Excelebration and looks a speedy type.

CELESTIAL WARRIOR

She’s a filly by Helmet, and she’s another one that looks quite sharp. I could see her being one of the first two-year-olds out and she looks capable of doing herself justice.