JAMIE SPENCER has an excellent book of rides at Thirsk to help maintain his challenge for the right to be crowned 2007 champion jockey.

Spencer shouldn't have to wait long for a winner if Writingonthewall (2.00), who showed plenty of promise to finish fifth on his Haydock debut, makes the expected improvement.

In the following seven furlong contest Spencer gets the leg up on Governor Eliott (2.30), a colt with a decent future judged by his recent fourth placing at York.

There was sufficient cash floating around the ring to make Mark Johnston's juvenile favourite on that occasion, a sure sign connections were confident of a big run.

The fact Governor Eliott failed to deliver might have been due to lack of peak fitness, so it's probably worth giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Governor Eliott's former stable-companion, Philanthropy (3.30), left team Johnston after being sold at Newmarket's July Sales to join fellow North Yorkshire handler Kevin Ryan.

Ryan must have thought he'd purchased a pup when his new inmate ran a stinker at the Ebor meeting, however Philanthropy soon left that shocker behind with a surprise 25-1 victory.

A 6lbs hike in the weights isn't going to make life easy for the selection, nonetheless he still rates a leading contender in the £11,000 Hygicare Handicap.

The same trainer and jockey combination are represented in the six furlong Shirley Carter Handicap by High Curragh (4.00).

Darragh O'Donohoe's mount ended a wallet-emptying losing streak which stretched back as far as the summer of 2005 when scraping home at Haydock in August.

The expensive-to-follow four-year-old then returned to the venue and was the subject of a significant gamble to land a similar prize. High Curragh might have been involved had he kept on a straight line, but the gelding hung quite badly left-handed and gave away ground at a crucial stage of the contest.

If O'Donohoe can prevent the partnership from lugging towards the far rail, it'll help their cause no end prior to hitting top gear when maximum thrust is required.

Valery Borzov (4.30), who started the season with a bang by scoring at Musselburgh on his first outing of the year, has since failed to get his head back in front. To be fair he went pretty close when third on a trip to Glorious Goodwood, although it was a false dawn because the David Nicholls-trained sprinter then cut little ice at York.

Nicholls has sensibly now found a softer target for Valery Borzov, a tactic which could prove a race winner come the climax of the five furlong White Swan At Ampleforth Handicap.