Jef­fery Ross

?Mag­ic Lantern is suit­ed by con­di­tions of the Maid­en Auc­tion Stakes over sev­en fur­longs (di­vi­sion two) at Sal­is­bury to­day, and her jock­ey, Richard Hugh­es. The "long fel­la" has rapid­ly re­duced a big gap in the jock­eys' cham­pi­onship and Ryan Moore will need to kick-start his sea­son again, with Richard get­ting dou­bles and tre­bles like old-time cow­boys in a sa­loon bar.

Twice-raced, Mag­ic Lantern ob­vi­ous­ly had no chance, what­so­ev­er, with Sent From Heav­en, when run­ner-up to Bar­ry Hills' charge over a sim­i­lar dis­tance at Kemp­ton last month. The win­ner con­firmed val­ue of that form by fin­ish­ing third in the "Sweet Sol­era" at New­mar­ket. On­ly a length or so sep­a­rat­ed them on the poly­track and the rest were six lengths and up­wards in ar­rears. An­oth­er Richard Han­non win­ner is ex­pect­ed, there­fore and it would be sur­pris­ing, if Mag­ic Lantern doesn't make it third time lucky, even though this Halling fil­ly is drawn worst, num­ber one. Plen­ty in hand and plen­ty of time, this is a long way for two-year-olds and Hugh­es wont be in any hur­ry on what is a stiff-ish track.

Hay­ley Turn­er rides Er­mine And Vel­vet for Clive Brit­tain in the Maid­en Stakes over sev­en fur­longs; her best ride of the day. Pri­mae­val and Jamie Spencer will prob­a­bly dom­i­nate the mar­ket but Er­mine And Vel­vet has the beat­ing of this once-raced colt on my time-hand­i­cap. With "dai­ly earn­er" and a 5lbs fil­lies' al­lowance, this looks an each-way spe­cial. Bet ac­cord­ing­ly and don't miss con­sis­tent, hith­er­to luck­less Mezenah, rid­den by Frankie Det­tori, in the Maid­en Fil­lies' Stakes over a mile of Sandown.

?SE­LEC­TIONS

?RACE 6 (#11) MAG­IC LANTERN

RACE 10 (#7) ER­MINE AND VEL­VET (nap-e,w,)

RACE 17 (#5) MEZENAH

RACE 44 (#1) MANERE (e.w.)