David Barker, who trains just a stone's throw from Catterick racecourse, should keep his local fans happy by taking the opener at the track this afternoon with Whinhill House (2.20).

Barker isn't letting the grass grow under Whinhill House's feet since he ran the three-year-old on Monday at Newcastle where the gelding was far from disgraced by finishing a close-up ninth in a competitive 0-85 Class D Handicap. Whinhill House now reverts to lesser company in a 0-60 Class F event in which he nicely in at the weights off a mark of 60.

Analysis of the betting patterns at Newcastle reveal that one punter had the confidence to invest £500 on the three-year-old at the Tyneside venue. Although the money obviously went astray on that occasion, I believe today's much lower grade Tote Big Screen Classified Stakes is a much more viable option for Whinhill House.

If the theory does turn out to hold water, the cash will now be flowing in the opposite direction - out of the bookies' satchels and into the punters' hands.

Despite being drawn in the "coffin box", Wainwright (2.55) still has excellent prospects in the Forcett Selling Stakes.

Eighteen runners line-up for the seven furlong contest and unfortunately for Wainwright he has been lumbered with stall number 18 stall on the wide outside.

That has to be a major negative, however to counterbalance matters he did run a marvellous race when runner-up in non-seller at Doncaster last Saturday.

The selection displayed admirable early pace at the weekend suggesting jockey Robbie Fitzpatrick will be able to tack over towards the favoured inside rail without hampering those rivals drawn on his inner.

Be not under illusion that there are any hidden gems lurking in the Toytop Maiden Stakes which contains among others Superapparos, still trying to get off the mark at the grand old age of nine.

His owners must have the patience of Jove and I prefer to side with Majestic Times (4.25) trained by Tim Easterby. Majestic Times showed bags of promise on his two starts in 2002, is related to a couple of smart sprinters, and seems just the type to enjoy a fruitful three-year-old career.

Leading Newmarket handler Ed Dunlop had a miserable campaign last year when his horses were laid low by a mystery virus.

The long winter will have given his horses plenty of time to rest and recover allowing the likes Nottingham-bound Unigold (3.45) to show his true colours. Very much a late-maturing type, I expect Unigold to collect the Bernhardt Maiden Stakes en-route to far better things over the duration of the next few months.

Richard Quinn shouldn't leave Lingfield empty-handed in view of the fact that both Kathology (3.35) and Duelling Bangos (4.35) may well hold the upper hand in their respective events.

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