MAKE sure Adiemus (3.40) is on your short-list for the first big handicap of the Flat season, the Freephone Stanley Lincoln.

It might not be very original tipping up the well-backed 9-2 ante-post favourite for the £100,000 mile contest, but reality kicks in good and proper when in-depth analysis is applied to Jeremy Noseda's representative.

For starters Adiemus was runner-up in the race 12 months ago, beating all bar the 33-1 shot Zucchero. Even then he failed only by a whisker, on ground clearly too soft for him.

The sunny weather over the past few days means the surface is getting quicker by the hour, which should suit Adiemus far better.

Add into the melting pot the Newmarket raider's current well-being - he finished an admirable second in the Winter Derby at Lingfield seven days ago - and there can be no doubting that the five-year-old son of Green Desert has an outstanding chance.

Despite all of the hullabaloo about the effect of the draw, at least from stall ten jockey Shane Kelly can opt to switch to either side of the track, so it should not affect his prospects.

The dangers in such a hard-to-solve handicap are manifest, especially from the likes of Epsom raider Norton.

The Terry Mills-trained six-year-old finished sixth in the 2002 race prior to plundering the massively competitive Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot. The messages emanating from the Mills' stable have been very positive and it would be no surprise if Norton is in the frame in the always exciting one- mile cavalry charge.

* Paul Nicholls warmed up for his attempts to capture some of jumps racing's end-of-season prizes with a winner at Newbury yesterday.

The West Country trainer is assembling a strong team for Aintree's Martell Cognac Grand National meeting in a fortnight.

And Cape Stormer may be among the first-teamers after he justified market support in the Montpelier Re Novices' Handicap Chase, benefiting from a confident ride by Ruby Walsh.

Walsh didn't sweat when his mount was briefly outpaced on the home turn and brought his mount through to pass leader Elenas River on the run to the final fence.

From that point, the 3-1 joint-favourite was always just holding the aces.

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