A QUALITY mix of racing this afternoon, both flat and jumps. Several of the big races have a nice each-way feel to them and, hopefully, a nice few big price winners to be found.

At Ascot, no less than 24 face the starter in the totesport Victoria Cup and the Richard Fahey trained Castles In The Air makes plenty of appeal at a decent price.

With the Malton trainer having his string in fine form at the minute all his runners need a second look and Castles In The Air is already proven on the track.

It is always a bit of a guessing game trying to work out the draw at Ascot in a big field, but the selection is drawn in 16 and former champion apprentice Frederik Tylicki will be able to go either side if the big field does decide to split into two groups.

Further around the M25 at Lingfield the totesport.com Derby Trial takes place at 3.10pm and trainer Mark Johnston is responsible for two of the seven runners.

The Middleham trainer's best chance would appear to come with Dordogne, who looked the real deal last season.

He was also impressive at Newmarket on his first run of the new term before disappointing last time out at Sandown, but Johnston is confident he can bounce back, saying: "The official ground at Sandown was good but I would have called it heavy - he had mud up to his mid cannon bone.

"He just didn't handle it at all and I think the best thing to do is just put a line through it. His win in the Feilden Stakes is a truer reflection of his ability and hopefully he will run a good race."

The other runner from the inform yard is Hurricane Higgins, open to plenty of improvement, he should run well at a bigger price and the trainer was complementary regarding him as well: "He won very well at Lingfield and I think he was second to a very good horse in France last time and he ran very green.

"It his first start on turf and we will just have to wait and see how he handles this."

The totescoop6 Swinton Handicap Hurdle is the feature race on Haydock's mixed card this afternoon. Ultra competitive, there are plenty in with chances but for a bit of value it might be worth keeping an eye on the John Quinn trained Ballybriggan.

Not seen since winning at Market Rasen in March, the seven-year-old has only had nine starts over hurdles and could still be improving.

With stable jockey Dougie Costello still nursing a broken leg Quinn has booked the inform Richie McGrath to take the ride and hopefully he can get close at a double figure price.

If the stamina holds out for the evening racing, there is an interesting six-race card at Thirsk, due under way at 6pm.