BRYAN SMART'S recent move from Lambourn to Les Eyre's former stables high on the North Yorkshire Moors at Hambleton is proving to be a resounding success.

Smart's team has been hitting the target with monotonous regularity recently, especially at Southwell, where he enjoyed a 46-1 double on Wednesday with Friday's Takings and Brandy Cove, both booted stylishly home by Paul Scallan.

Scallan's pedigree could not be more impressive, having spent last year with the all-conquering Aiden O'Brien at Ballydoyle, where he often took charge of the yard's pacemakers for the multiple Irish Classic-winning trainer.

With so much competition for a limited number of rides on the all-weather circuit, his decision to try his luck in the UK was always going to be risky, but fortunately the gamble seems to be paying off.

"I had a long talk with Aidan O'Brien about Paul and he had some very good things to say about him," said Smart, who has rewarded Scallan for Wednesday's brilliant efforts by offering him further rides aboard Night Market (12.55) and My Last Bean (3.00) at the Midlands venue.

Not having won a race of any description is hardly an encouraging omen for Night Market's prospective backers, however all of the other 13 runners are in the same boat for the lowly one-mile Maiden Auction contest.

Night Market has at least shown a willing attitude, most notably when only just touched off in a thrilling four-way photo finish over course and distance on November 17. In a whip-cracking final furlong, the selection had a real hard race that day and Smart has sensibly given him plenty of time to recover before bringing him back to the fray.

My Last Bean also went close on his latest start over track and trip, finding only Tony Newcombe's Interstice too good.

The latter has since gone on to complete a money-spinning hat-trick, form which can only bode well for the Smart/Scallan combo in the Channel 4 Handicap over a mile-and-a-half.

To try to get proceedings off to a lucrative beginning, have a bob or two each-way on Noble Locks (12.25) in the opening seven-furlong betdirect.co.uk Handicap.

A lousy outside berth in the cheap seats fettled any chance the gelding had of winning last time, principally because his habitual front-running tactics mean if he's not drawn within sniffing distance of the far rail, punters might as well tear up their tickets before the gates have even opened.

Fortunately Lady Luck has shone more favourably on Noble Locks this time because emerging from stall number six, Tom McLaughlin should be able to bag a vital early lead and then swash-buckle his way to victory.

In the £6,5000 five-furlong Littlewoods Handicap, it's a case of lighting the blue touch paper and letting a bunch of seasoned sprinters do their stuff as far as most of the jockeys are concerned.

The James Eustace-trained Newmarket raider Greenwood (1.55) certainly fits into that category, although his able 7lb claiming pilot, Hayley Turner, is more than capable of giving her mount the right sort of persuasion if she has to get serious once the winning post is in sight.

Greenwood is taking a considerable drop in grade, having finished third in a 0-100 Class C contest last time out. It does mean he now has to shoulder ten stone, although in the past he proved most effective when conceding weight to inferior opposition.

* Back to normal at last! That looks to be the call from Monday as the weather releases its icy grip on Britain's racecourses.

However, the thaw has come too late to save today's trio of jumps meetings.

Warwick was the first to go with an 8am inspection showing large areas of the track were still affected by frost leaving clerk of the course Robert Bellamy no option but to call off the card.

Ascot was due to stage the feature race of the day, the £120,000 Victor Chandler Chase, but the inspection showed the track to be unraceable.

Clerk of the course Nick Cheyne said: ''The temperatures hadn't dropped too much overnight but there is still a covering of snow and still a lot of frost in the ground.''

Uttoxeter also abandoned due to a frozen track. A morning check showed the course was still suffering from frost and clerk of the course Jon Pullin was not expecting conditions to improve enough for racing to go ahead.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, with Doncaster, where the ground is good to soft on the hurdles course and good on the chase track, Plumpton (heavy) and Wolverhampton (standard) all scheduled to race on Monday.

David McHarg, Plumpton's clerk of the course, said: ''We have no inspections planned."

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