A LUCKY punter could walk away with a £6,000 jackpot for a 50p stake as Sunderland stage the first of their summer 16-race evening BAGS meetings tonight.

The jackpot reached £4,428 at the East Boldon track on Saturday night and three tickets went through to the sixth leg. But none of the ticket holders opted for the winner, 5-1 outsider Main Street Dilemma, which received a 17-metre start from trap one in the 640m handicap race.

The nearest went for second-placed Moody Monica, which was beaten by one-and-a-half lengths. Tonight's jackpot - the biggest for over two years - is likely to be boosted to over £6,000 and should add to the crowd for the longer than normal programme, which includes four extra races and gets underway at 6.22pm.

Former Middlesbrough trainer Jeanette McNicholas is currently having great success with one of the most consistent dogs on the track, Manhattan Danty. The May 1998 Sassy Boy-Manhattan Shell fawn dog has won four of his last five races, earning promotion from A3 to A2 grade, and his times for the 450m standard trip have only varied between a best of 28.41 secs and a slowest of 28.50 secs.

l Brough Park's recent sale of young Irish greyhounds looks to have produced a cracker in Ballymacdoe Gent, which was the top lot at 1,800 guineas.

The dog was bought on the strength of an auction trial time of 30.28 secs for the standard 480m distance and placed in the track kennels of Gordon Rooks.

But little over a week later Ballymacdoe Gent found nearly a second in a three dog qualifying trial, clocking a rapid 29.43 secs. Racing manager Terry Meynell said: "I thought some of the dogs would be a bit tired after their journey to Tyneside and Ballymacdoe Gent has found nearly a second on his second race round the track - his new owner is delighted.