DEVON RUBY (1.30) could prove a proper little gem for punters prepared to chance their arm and support the North Yorkshire-trained outsider at Southwell today.

Ann Duffield has enjoyed a vintage season with her two-year-olds and the fun hasn't stopped yet provided Devon Ruby can build on last week's encouraging run at the track, when finishing a close-up seventh.

The Constable Burton-based handler isn't shooting for the stars by targeting the lowly seven-furlong Betdirect Selling Stakes, a pragmatic policy seeing as Devon Ruby is clearly of relatively limited ability.

But while mediocrity might be the name of the game, the race is there to be won and, given Devon Ruby has been handed an all-important wide draw, she has the perfect opportunity to utilise a patently faster strip of ground adjacent to the stands rails

In division one of the opening Amateur Riders Handicap, Didn't Tell My Wife (12.00), who has slipped 10lb down the ratings over the past 12 months, is sure to be a very popular choice.

The Julian Poulton-trained six-year-old signalled his turn was near when a close-up fourth on a visit to Nottingham in marginally more competitive company this month.

So far it has been a case of heartbreak hotel for Queen's Composer (1.00), runner-up on all three career starts to date.

Rather than leaking oil when under pressure, Bryan Smart's raider has simply been unlucky in finding one too good each time he's gone to the well.

Such misfortune is not going to last forever and Queen's Composer has undoubtedly shown enough to open his account in the EBF Novice Stakes.

With the six-time former champion jockey, Kieren Fallon, booked to ride Lingfield-bound Divine White (1.40), big things are clearly expected from the daughter of College Chapel.

Amanda Perrett's representative is a confirmed pace-setter and in all probability Fallon will slam his foot hard to the floor and go for maximum throttle from the moment the gates fly open.

It's a fact that trail-blazing tactics are not always ideal at the Surrey track.

But if any rider can pull it off, Kieren, known as "the enforcer" in view of his immense strength, is the right man for the job.

Derek Shaw's team are on good terms with themselves, a point well worth bearing in mind when pondering the prospects of Desert Light (2.40).

Shaw's three-year-old came up against a smart cookie when narrowly eclipsed by the speedy Blessed Place at Wolverhampton in October. Although Desert Light then disappointed on a trip to Southwell, the gelding will be far more at home now he tries his luck on today's quicker surface.

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