ASHARON (2.40) is going to take some stopping despite having to hump top weight in Ripon's ten-furlong Sawley Handicap.

Punters took a dim view of Asharon's prospects at Goodwood last time out, sending him off as an unconsidered 50-1 outsider. But fortunately for his few each-way backers, Ted Durcan's mount hadn't read the gloomy pre-race script and squeezed into third spot, providing a nice pay day for the Asharon faithful.

By contrast, the selection is going to be one of the hotter tickets in town this afternoon, especially after the three-year-old returned to the level of ability he demonstrated when picking up a couple of fair prizes at Lingfield just after Christmas.

In the opening EBF two-year-old event, Desert Realm (2.10) gets the chance to redress the balance after fluffing his lines badly on his York debut.

Rated one of the frontline juveniles in Mark Johnston's stable, Desert Realm came in for hefty market support on the Knavesmire. The money appeared as banked when the Middleham-based colt blasted out of the stalls like an Olympic sprinter, only to fold tamely well over a furlong from home.

Aficionados of the racing game will confirm the sport is rife with thinly disguised excuses - however in this case the prevailing soft ground, plus the six-furlong trip, was almost certainly the cause of Desert Realm's demise.

Whatever the reasons, connections seem to have taken the hint, switching their charge back to the minimum distance on much quicker ground, both of which may conspire to help achieve a far more satisfactory end result.

Jeremy Glover's experiment of trying Charmatic (4.40) over a mile-and-three-quarters at Nottingham was an unmitigated disaster when the filly finished a well-beaten sixth.

She'd previously won an 11-furlong heat at Southwell with ease, suggesting the mile-and-a-half of the Studley Royal Handicap should be an ideal target for Glover's representative.

Sedgefield's evening meeting, featuring the Miss Durham Beauty contest, is going to be very busy so spectators need arrive in plenty of time prior to the first on the card in which Kalou (6.15) makes plenty of appeal.

Chris Grant's gelding showed his turn was near by filling the runners-up position at Perth, a race in which Patrick Haslam's useful chaser, Fiori, could only finish third.

The final of the £10,000 John Wade Selling Handicap Hurdle is a tight-knit affair with the old-timer, In Good Faith (6.45), just about getting the nod.

Ronnie Barr's veteran, a previous course and distance scorer, ran a cracker in a marginally stronger contest at Wetherby last week, a performance that entitles him to the greatest respect in the two-mile-and-five-furlong event.

After collecting at the course last week, Lutin Du Moulin is likely to be a warm order for the Harry Coates Memorial Novices' Handicap Hurdle.

He looks a typically progressive Len Lungo-trained raider, who possibly faces most danger from Kate Walton's Sikasso, another likely to relish the fast underfoot conditions.

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