Tony Calvin: 33/1 about Train looks a Steel in Saturday's Lincoln

No matter how assiduously you follow Flat racing, it never surprises me how much you - or rather I - have forgotten from the previous season when you begin to ease the National Hunt goggles off.

I actually failed to reel the five Classic winners off the top of my head when I came to do this piece- I bet the majority of you fail to name them within 20 seconds too, or at least I hope so anyway - so familiarising myself with the runners on Saturday's Doncaster card took a while.

Luckily there were only 91 entries at the five day stage for the Lincoln, so that made it an easy re-introduction, though.

Morando the correct favourite but price doesn't appeal

One of the buzz horses of late winter for this race was Morando and he currently trades at what looks a very short price at 6.611/2 on the exchange - mind you, that is bigger than in the fixed-odds marketplace where his price ranges from 4/1 to 11/2 - after he has attracted a lot of interest.

I say a lot of interest but that is not necessarily financial - it would take peanuts to halve a horse's price at this stage of proceedings, such is the ante-post world that we now live in - and when I say short I am relating my observations to what price he will be available at on Saturday morning, and with probably enhanced place terms than the current ¼ 1,2,3,4 for each-way backers, too.

All the talk was that Morando was a "Group horse in waiting" after he won impressively off a mark of 96 at Ayr last September - if you think about it, that is stating the bleedin' obvious really - and he went off 5/1 favourite for the valuable 1m handicap won by Yuften (second favourite in this race at 7/1) on Champions' Day at Ascot in October.

He could "only" finish seventh, beaten 2½ lengths there, but that doesn't tell you the whole story.

He didn't travel smoothly throughout the race and clearly needs a bit of stoking but take a look back at the video and you are left with the impression that he would have finished much closer to the winner had he got a clear run in the final furlong, so well was he responding to his jockey's urgings. The wide Donny track promises to suit.

Off the same mark and with a 4lb pull with the winner, it is easy to see why he heads the market but I'll be a touch surprised if he isn't available at his current price at least, with an extra place thrown in, at the weekend. This is a 22-runner handicap, after all.

Other market leaders have potential if not the form

Sacred Act trades as the third favourite at 12.011/1 and, again, it is easy to see why.

He was gelded before a striking win at Sandown in September - he was colossally weak in the market that day and went off at 16/1 after being put in as favourite by the bookies the night before - and the manner in which picked up after meeting trouble in running marked him down as a horse to keep on the right side of.

He went up 7lb, the bare form is no great shakes, and he had his problems thereafter but he did look a bit of a tool at Sandown.

The other horse at the top of the market that has been nibbled at of late is the similarly unexposed Chelsea Lad, who is currently available at 12.523/2.

Now, he is another horse whose price is presumably based on gossip and homework rather than racecourse form as we have not seen him since he won at Newmarket in May and, like Sacred Act, he too went up 7lb for a narrow win.

I may be doing him a disservice though as the runner-up bumped into a certain Persuasive at Chelmsford next time and was sent to race in the US afterwards, where she has won and has not been beaten far in Grade 1s, not that is probably saying too much with fillies and mares' races over there.

Steel looks a solid wager at a big price

Who knows, I may well tip up one of those towards the head of the market as at least a saver come Friday evening but the one that interests me most at a big price at this stage is Steel Train at 34.033/1 or bigger. There is plenty of 33/1 in the marketplace.

Now, I don't know if he is an intended runner and he isn't jocked up yet on the racing admin site - and Danny Tudhope is currently on Bravery - so keep stakes low, but he is interesting on a number of levels.

Obviously, he doesn't have the sexy profile of those mentioned above and on the face of it his three runs on the all-weather this year have been decidedly underwhelming, having beaten just four of 36 opponents home.

But he has shaped far better than those efforts would have you believe - he certainly didn't enjoy the run of the race when hampered badly in the Lincoln Trial won by Nimr at Wolverhampton last time, though admittedly he may have struggled to even get a place at best anyway - and he has definite prospects off a mark of 100 for the stable that had their subsequent Grade 1 winner Mondialiste just touched off in this race (off just 105!) two years ago.

He is 12lb higher than for his last turf run, a win here over 7f last November from Briyouni, but the manner in which he spread-eagled his field there in a fast time, after travelling sweetly throughout, really was very taking.

And he finished off last season with two excellent efforts, including a win at Newcastle, and this course winner, with plenty of form in big-field handicaps, shapes like there is more to come from him in a strongly-run 1m.

The 6yo may lack the potential handicap upside of the likes of Morando but that is why he is a 33/1 poke, I guess.

Recommended Bet

Back Steel Train at 34.033/1 or bigger in the Lincoln on Saturday