Sedgefield specialist Lord Capitaine (3.45) looks good for a fifth course and distance success today.

Howard Johnson's handsome nine-year-old regularly struts his stuff at the track, his last victory coming just seven days ago when he strode away from Little Brown Bear to record an emphatic 11-length success.

The latter now re-opposes on 7lb better terms, which gives him a glimmer of hope but is not enough to warrant reversing the placings in the feature event on the card, the Wares Teesside Limited Handicap Chase.

In the preceding Harry Lane Memorial Handicap Hurdle, Nip On (3.10) is fancied to live up to his name and outstay the opposition once they get down to business in the closing stages of the three-mile-three-furlong marathon.

Trained at Boroughbridge, Jim Turner's nine-year-old has found the frame on all three of his latest starts and deserves a win.

The main danger could be Brian James, who having lost his way in the early part of the season has shown ominous signs of a revival.

The life of the popular North-East jump jockey Alan Merrigan was tragically cut short by a car accident a few years ago.

Those of us who knew Alan will never forget his bravery, he just never said "no" to a ride, despite being offered some real villains and sketchy jumpers to partner.

Thankfully none of the five horses engaged in the Alan Merrigan Memorial Novices' Chase fit that description, the almost certain winner likely to be The French Furze (4.55), who appears to be head and shoulders above the rest.

Sheriff Hutton-based Mick Easterby embarks on a smash-and-grab raid to Ascot with Johnson's Point (2.10), Super Nomad (2.45) and Barton Dante (2.45).

Pick of the bunch is Johnson's Point, who needs to put right a dismal flop when pulled up in soft ground at Doncaster in December.

She did far better when scoring on her debut at Haydock two months earlier and a reproduction of that effort in the Jock Scott Mares' Only Novices' Hurdle might be good enough.

* In a year which saw racing pilloried in television documentaries, it is refreshing to read about the exploits on the track of the likes of Rock Of Gibraltar and High Chaparral in Timeform's Racehorses Of 2002.

This near 1,200-word tome is a must for any Flat-racing enthusiast with detailed essays on all the top performers plus a section devoted to 'Promising Horses'.

Rock Of Gibraltar, who won a record seven consecutive Group One races in the colours of Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, is the Timeform Champion on a rating of 133.

The record had previously been held by Mill Reef, who earned a rating of 141 after six victories in a row at the highest level.

Explaining the difference in ratings, Timeform said: ''What made Mill Reef a great horse in our book was not winning six Group One races in a row, but his performance in those races.''

Rock Of Gibraltar was just one of champion trainer Aidan O'Brien's powerful Ballydoyle string with High Chaparral winning the Vodafone and Irish Derbys as well as the Breeders' Cup Turf for the Coolmore team.

The two-year-olds were a less than sparkling bunch with John Gosden's Shadwell Stud Middle Park Stakes winner Oasis Dream top on 122 with the Pascal Bary-trained Six Perfections the leading filly on 120.

Bollin Eric, the first Yorkshire-trained winner of the St Leger since Peleid in 1973, has been given a rating of 125.

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