PUNTERS seeking to stay one step ahead of the bookies at the start of Glorious Goodwood's fabulous five-day meeting should look no further than Athenian (2.05) in the opening Littlewoods Showcase Handicap.

The Dave Morris-trained four-year-old has only been raised 1lb for his latest success at Doncaster, a victory achieved on ground which was fast enough for the versatile gelding.

Fortunately for Athenian, clerk-of-the-course Rod Fabricius yesterday reported that due to an unseasonal amount of rain falling at the picturesque Sussex venue over the past few days, underfoot conditions have eased considerably.

Such news must have been music to the ears of Athenian's connections since the selection appeared to be in his element when bolting up by four lengths in a veritable bog at an extremely soggy Windsor last term.

The £100,000 Group 2 Lennox Stakes is not only the most valuable race on the card, but also the hardest to solve as far as winner finding goes.

Hold-up specialist Tillerman (3.15) will need the gaps to come at the right time.

However, he really is something special over seven furlongs when on song and provided the "iceman" Richard Hughes times his challenge to perfection, Amanda Perrett's seven-year-old has the class to prevail.

Although Mark Johnston's stable is showing a tidy £30.58 profit to a £1 level stake for all 91 runners at the track over the past five years, that statistic still doesn't help us pick between his two representatives, Darasim and Coolbythepool (3.50), in the ladbrokes.com Handicap.

Despite Darasim having won at the meeting 12 months ago, preference is marginally for the latter, a fast-improving three-year-old with a similar profile to last year's first-past-the-post, Scott's View, also incidentally trained by Johnston.

On the flip side of the coin, Brian Meehan has a miserable record at the Festival with a zero from 39 strike-rate since 1997.

Meehan is far too skilled at his trade for that unflattering trend to continue, indeed, Carrizo Creek (4.25) might easily be the one to get the job done in the two-year-old Group 2 Richmond Stakes.

The Lambourn-based juvenile first struck at Brighton in May and more recently has stepped up markedly on that effort by successfully plundering a decent prize at the Curragh.

Jim Goldie's Beverley-bound Tony Tie (3.30) has been having a torrid time by his own normally high standards.

They say every cloud has a silver lining and perhaps in Tony Tie's case this can be interpreted in terms of his handicap rating, which has been steadily falling as a result of his relatively poor form.

Having dropped to such a favourable mark Tony Tie seems certain to get back on the winning trail sooner or later and may well have found the ideal opportunity in the £10,000 Tote Bookmakers Handicap.

* Champion jockey Kieren Fallon will have his appeal against a two-day ban heard by the disciplinary panel of the Jockey Club this morning.

Fallon, whose case will be heard at 9.15am, was handed the suspension by the stewards at Ayr last Monday after they judged him guilty of careless riding on Princely Venture in the Daily Record Scottish Derby.

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