LUCKLESS Bollin Eric (2.20) has finally found the perfect opportunity to get his head back in front on the opening day of the Ebor Festival at York.

Bollin Eric better prepare himself for a hero's reception in front of his home crowd, if as expected he wins the Group 2 Weatherbys Insurance Lonsdale Stakes.

There'll certainly be plenty of pent up emotion ready to be released because fans of Tim Easterby's 2002 St Leger winner have had to endure a whole series of frustrating defeats in top-class middle-distance races this term.

It was always going to be a gamble dropping Bollin Eric back in trip to contest the likes of the Hardwicke Stakes plus King George at Ascot.

The experiment was a partial success, although ultimately it has to be said he didn't quite have the natural speed to beat the very best in that division.

However, it could well be a totally different story now Tim has taken the plunge and opted to run his stable-star over the new longer distance of two miles for the first time. Things will thankfully be happening just a tad more slowly and even though Bollin Eric needs to overcome the battle-hardened street-fighting legend, Persian Punch, the pride of Easterby's powerful stable is fancied to just about prevail.

Finding a good spot to view the horses in the paddock is never easy at this particular meeting, especially prior to the £490,000 Group 1 Juddmonte International.

Pound for pound mile-and-a-quarter races don't come much better, and to get a bird's eye view of the awesome physique of a spattering of the world's greatest thoroughbreds is a treat not to be missed.

Kalaman has been installed as the 7-4 favourite and given Sir Michael Stoute's fantastic record at the fixture over the past five years he seems certain to give a good account. On the downside, it does feel like an incredibly skinny price considering he's up against last year's winner Nayef, plus my own preference, Coral-Eclipse and Japan Cup victor, Falbrav (2.55).

"Falbrav is a real tank of a horse and represents my best ride over the whole three days," said his confident-sounding jockey Darryll Holland.

The fitting of a visor by David Loder to Rule Of Law (4.05) brought about a quite remarkable transformation in his fortunes when striding away for a seven length course and distance success at the John Smith's Cup meeting.

"I'm very much looking forward to riding Rule Of Law in the Acomb Stakes, he looks a real horse for the future," reported his regular rider Jamie Spencer. According to the current speed ratings, Rule Of Law still has a bit to find with one or two of his opponents, but that is not to say he hasn't improved sufficiently over the last four weeks in order to capture the £35,000 race.

In the hope of getting off to lucrative start a strong case can be made for supporting Spectrometer (1.45), attempting to win the Ladbroke-sponsored Showcase Handicap for the second year in succession.

Twelve months ago the selection was in the capable hands of Minehead jumps handler Philip Hobbs, landing the spoils at the positively mouth-watering odds of 33-1. Sadly there no way the gelding will go off at that sort of fancy price now that he has moved to Mark Johnston's yard. Nonetheless the effortless way Spectrometer won at Hamilton last Wednesday suggests a repeat performance is very much on the cards.

l The going for the opening day of the Ebor meeting at York today has dried slightly to good to firm all round from good to firm, good in places.

''We have removed the good in places from the going as we have had a bright day,'' said York chief executive William Derby, who confirmed they had no plans to water the course.