JOHN QUINN'S superb season is all set to continue at Bath this afternoon where Winthorpe (4.00) has an excellent opportunity to follow up his recent Hamilton success.

Malton-based Quinn, currently enjoying a career-best campaign on the 21-winner mark, has once again donned his thinking cap and shrewdly sorted out a weak Class E handicap for Winthorpe to try and maintain his winning sequence.

Although Quinn had all sorts of options to run his in-form sprinter much nearer to home, the fact he has decided to travel the ultra-consistent three-year-old gelding well over 200 miles to the west country suggests he is confident of getting the right result.

Another northern raider likely to hit the target is Karl Burke's Erracht (4.35) in the Oyez Claiming Stakes.

The majority of the field in the five furlong dash have seen better days, but that comment definitely does not apply to Erracht, who has been paying her way with a string of consistent performances over the past few months.

Burke's bonny filly showed she was in the sort of mood the get back in the groove with a close-up third at Windsor last time out. That was in a much harder race so the drop in class, plus the assistance of the promising 3lb apprentice Luke Fletcher in the plate, add up to must-back situation.

Sandown stage the day's Showcase Handicap at 3.15, however I won't be rushing off to have a bet in what appears to be a very competitive mile-and-a-quarter heat.

In a wide-open event perhaps the one to steal the show will be Sky Quest, who hasn't been seen out since scoring in decisive fashion at Bath 50 days ago. Despite posting a length-and-a-half verdict on that occasion my contacts reckon he could have easily doubled the winning distance.

If that is so then maybe the Official Handicapper has been duped into an act of supreme largesse by only raising Sky Quest 4lb.

Under normal circumstances the Peter Harris-trained five-year-old would have gone up 7lb and therefore could theoretically have a bit in hand on his rivals.

Harris also has decent prospects at Doncaster's evening meeting courtesy of Flight Of Esteem (7.55) in the Carling Extra Cold Handicap.

Barring fog or extremely inclement weather conditions the journey up from Sandown presents no problems for the multi-millionaire Harris, whose trademark blue and white helicopter shuttles him around the country depending on where his horses are running.

Flight Of Esteem's credentials are there for all to see and bearing in mind he hasn't been out of the first two on all four his last starts it is hard to envisage anything other than another solid effort.

Nursery handicaps can be devilishly hard to solve and only small stakes are advised on George The Best (8.10) at Hamilton.

Micky Hammond is better known in the National Hunt sphere, none the less he likes to keep a few for the Flat and George The Best demonstrated admirable courage when scoring at Pontefract earlier on this month.

* Followers of The Northern Echo SPORT racing service were onto a winner yesterday. Both our tipsters - Janus and Tattenham - picked Salviati as their nap selection and readers were rewarded with a tasty victory at 4-1.

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