STEEL BLUE needs to bounce back to form if he's to justify his inclusion in Racing North's ten-to-follow for 2006 and win Catterick's feature, the £20,000 totequadpot Handicap.

Richard Whitaker's gelding finished last of 14 on his most recent outing, an especially diabolical effort in view of the fact he was 5-1 favourite for the six-furlong Ripon handicap just over a fortnight ago.

The only plausible excuse appears to revolve around Steel Blue having to race on the stands' rail where, due to uneven drainage, the ground was much slower than on the far side.

Dig just fractionally deeper and the selection had previously put up a much bolder show when fifth at Ayr, a contest in which it's well worth noting he finished three lengths clear of the sixth horse home.

If we simply forgive the Ripon run and focus on the far more promising performance up in Scotland, Steel Blue (3.15) is surely worth another chance over a track and trip that should play to his strengths.

Bobby Elliott, who rode for The Queen in 1960, has clearly passed on the fine art of jockeyship to son Andrew, scheduled to partner Bronze Dancer (3.50) in the mile-and-three-quarter handicap.

Bronze Dancer did very little wrong when second to Oldenway on his reappearance, a pleasing pipe-opener that will have teed Alan Swinbank's four-year-old up nicely for today's £10,000 test.

Hala Bek could yet make the line-up for the Vodafone Derby after pleasing connections in his first workout since recovering from a setback.

However, trainer Michael Jarvis said a decision on the colt's participation in the premier Classic would not be made until next week.

A highly-promising winner of his only start at Newbury last month, Hala Bek missed last week's Dante Stakes at York because of a dirty scope.

''We scoped him yesterday before we worked him this morning and the scope was satisfactory,'' said Jarvis.

''Then he worked this morning a mile across the Flat at Newmarket and worked quite nicely. It wasn't ideal conditions - it was raining heavily and the ground was on the soft side.

''He acts in the soft but for work it isn't ideal. We were happy with him.

''He is inexperienced and ideally we could have had another run somewhere, but when I saw the conditions for the Dante I wasn't too sorry that we weren't there."