PUNTERS shouldn't go too far wrong by teaming up with Dorothy's Friend (4.05) at Brighton this afternoon.

Roger Charlton's gelding is desperately trying to make up for lost time and the fact that he wasn't beaten far into fifth spot on his belated seasonal reappearance at Chepstow last week suggests there are serious grounds for optimism.

Prior to that run Dorothy's Friend had been out of action since October 15th 2002, so it is pretty safe to assume that he would have, at the very least, been ring-rusty. Neither must we leave out of the equation past statistics, which clearly show Charlton's horses nearly always improve fitness-wise for a proper racecourse blow-out, rather than routine work on the home gallops.

Given this information in association with the inherent weakness of the opposition lining up for the Gent Ltd Handicap, and Dorothy's Friend will surely give us a great run for money in the mile-and-a-half contest.

Underrated Richard Mullen generally makes the most of the precious few opportunities that come his way and I don't expect him to make any mistakes aboard Strathspey (3.05) in the preceding Atkinson's Chartered Accountants Handicap.

Most of Mullen's rides are provided by his guv'nor Chris Wall, a real shrewd cookie currently showing a cracking £29.82 profit to a £1 level stake thus far this term. Strathspey has yet to contribute to Wall's impressive haul, although it's not for the want of trying having run an absolute screamer when second at Salisbury three weeks ago.

Seb Sanders' decision to give Brighton a swerve and travel to Yarmouth instead appears to be a hint in itself with regard to his overall prospects at the east-coast meeting.

Sanders has been snapped up for a clutch of decent rides including Zarzu (3.25), not without hope in the Premier Claiming Stakes, together with Peak Park (4.55), one of the certain market leaders in the marathon Weatherall Marquees Handicap.

Peak Park, an all-American bred colt, is related to a stack of winners in the States and judged on his latest third-placing to Misternando at Folkestone, is poised to uphold the family tradition in the near future.

After a six-week summer break racing resumes on the Fibresand at Southwell, where not for the first time there is a glut of runners with the emphasis on quantity rather than quality.

Typically there's a maximum 16-strong field going to post for the southwell-racecourse.co.uk Handicap in which Off Hire (4.45) makes plenty of appeal.

It's not hard to forgive Off Hire's latest abysmal effort at Warwick because the ground was like iron underfoot. The selection has never relished such conditions and I suspect rather than allowing his joints to be hammered into total submission, the gelding sensibly looked after number one and coasted for much of the way.

In direct contrast, the man-made surface at the Midlands venue is far kinder on the legs and Off Hire, who has dropped around 10lb to a very enticing handicap rating, is therefore much more likely to put his best foot forward in the capable hands of Dean "Deano" McKeown.

l Jockeys united to stage a walk-out protest against new restrictions on mobile phones yesterday, writes DAVID CASEY.

They left the weighing room en masse in between the first and second races at Leicester, and staged a similar protest at Hamilton.

The jockeys at Leicester, who included champion Kieren Fallon, walked arm in arm outside the racetrack to the side of the road, where they are not restricted in using their mobiles, before returning in time for the second race.

Richard Hills, fresh from scoring on Al Sifaat in Leicester's opener, said: ''It's like being back at school, being told to stand in the corner to talk to owners and trainers.

''We all work very long hours and with all the travelling we don't need this nonsense."