BANK on Bond Boy (7.15) to boost the kitty in this evening's Newcastle feature, The Northern Rock Gosforth Park Cup.

Trainer Bryan Smart, fresh from his first-ever Royal Ascot success courtesy of last Saturday's winning nap, Titus Alone, has finally got Bond Boy back to the sort of form which saw him clinch the Stewards' Cup at Glorious Goodwood in 2002.

Until last month the selection had been on a long losing run stretching back a couple years, but that all changed when the Reg Bond-owned gelding mopped up the neck-end of £35,000 by landing Musselburgh's most valuable race, the Scottish Sprint Cup.

Bond Boy has done his cause no harm since, finishing third at Redcar, and then fourth after being badly checked at Beverley on Tuesday.

Given a little more luck from the stalls, the eight-year-old is still weighted to take the money in the £30,000 Tyneside showpiece.

Another speed specialist failing to obtain any sort of daylight was Divine Spirit (8.50), who encountered at Thirsk 11 days ago.

On that occasion jockey Paul Hanagan opted to stay hard against the normally favoured stands' rail, a policy that ultimately was doomed to failure as the gaps simply didn't come at the right time.

Tony Culhane is now the man entrusted to do the steering on the well-handicapped Michael Dods' raider, a booking that will hopefully pay handsome dividends in the six-furlong Betfred Handicap.

Paul Blockley has decided to bring multiple sand scorer Wessex (8.20) back to the turf after a 104-day absence.

The presence of Blockley's burley figure generally spells danger for his fellow handlers, so if there is a flood of money for Wessex prior to the Weatherbys Bank Handicap, punters are advised to join in the wholesale gamble.

Summer jumping fans get their slice of the action at Market Rasen with Paul Webber's Space Star (3.40).

Paul is currently boasting a magnificent 75 per cent strike-rate, three of his last four runners having won during the past fortnight.

Although Space Star hasn't contributed to those impressive stats, on account of not being seen out for the best part of two months, he also prevailed on his latest foray at Fontwell in April.

The most striking point about that victory was the stag-like precision of Space Star's fencing, a skill which should help his anticipated bold bid to secure the Clugston Novices' Chase.

Very few ten-year-olds have sufficient life left to win on the Flat, there is the odd exception to the rule in Wolverhampton-bound Adobe (4.50).

Mark Brisbourne's old-timer made light of his years by finishing a dashing second at Bath on Wednesday, dropping a hint well worth taking for the finale at the Midlands venue, the Best Hat Amateur Riders' Handicap.