BLONDE STREAK (3.20) is fancied to live up to her name by scooting away with this afternoon's £25,000 Carlisle Bell.

Although David Barron's filly has finished in fourth place on both of her outings so far this term, the two runs could not have been more contrasting. To begin with at Ripon Blonde Streak was a desperately unlucky loser, finding more traffic problems than the customary log-jammed rush hour on the adjoining A1 dual carriageway.

The selection was then sent to Leicester just five days later, where for my money she didn't fire on all cylinders, at no stage looking like taking a serious hand in the finish.

There are any number of reasons as to why that scenario came about, however in my experience normally the best thing to do is simply put it down to a bad day at the office.

It's not hard to envisage Blonde Streak leaving that lacklustre effort well behind her, especially as she possesses bags of scope for further improvement and therefore still gets a confident vote in the long-established one-mile race.

For the following Cumberland Plate, back-to-form Millennium Hall (3.50) warrants a decent each-way wager.

Having appeared to be something of a villain with his previous two trainers, Luca Cumani and Ian Semple, who both drew a blank with the horse, new handler Peter Monteith has completely revitalised Millennium Hall by cajoling him to win a total of three races.

All three of those victories have been at Hamilton, a course with a similarly stiff uphill finish to the one he will encounter at today's track. With his confidence on an all-time-high, plus the benefit of the strong lightweight jockey, Paul Fessey, in the saddle, Monteith's raider could be the surprise package in what is always a fiercely competitive event.

Another individual guaranteed to relish the gruelling climb to the line is Cyclonic Storm (4.20), a leading contender for the EBF Fillies Handicap.

Richard Fahey's tough mare has already posted one previous course and distance victory, which together with the fact that she ran a cracker on her comeback when third at Hamilton, bodes well for supporters of Cyclonic Storm.

Countdown host and jocular television personality, Richard Whitely, will be hoping his cheekily named two-year-old, Twice Nightly (2.20), takes the opening Broker Construction Maiden Auction Stakes.

Twice Nightly has found the frame on both his starts and there's a good chance he'll get off the mark at only the third time of asking in the hands of Joe Fanning.

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