These old adversaries regularly swop placings through a season, having faced each other for three or even four years, and they served up an amazingly clean fight with only Zowington getting squeezed out after a furlong, which effectively ended his chance. The hard luck was being drawn low despite, as expected, the pace coming from that quarter, as Merlin's Dancer and Fire Up The Band blazed away at the head of seven who raced wider midtrack.

DESERT LORD has a chequered history but has occasionally produced startling performances. He also has aids changed regularly, with cheekpieces having been successfully employed and the blinkers he wore when winning at Musselburgh in April reapplied after another try in cheekpieces. Even the handicapper reckoned he had been hard on him for his Musselburgh win for new connections, easing him a pound in future. Now he faces going up again, but he will remain on a mark that puts him in the middle of big sprint weights. His record suggests he cannot be trustedto repeat such an authoritative success at this level.

Bond City deserves plenty of credit for this effort on his seasonal return, which has been delayed purely for the want of fast ground. It was certainly not rattling here, with course walkers reporting the ground having a surprising amount of moisture, emphasised by the print the horses left across the track, although the time was notably fast. He was hanging left for most of the race, yet still beat the rest well enough, having raced in the centre of the main stands' side group. Connections are targeting the big-money Musselburgh sprint next week and he should take some beating on this evidence.

The veteran Continent enjoyed the ground and high draw to stay on strongly nearest the stands' rail. He ran a similar race in the Portland but, like the winner, he pops up unexpectedly with good runs.Green Manalishi finished strongly on the favoured stands' side to continue in fine form with the handicapper having paid close attention. The 2004 winner Caribbean Coral was another to stay on without threatening to land a blow. He showed he has come down to a tempting mark.

Corridor Creeper ended up between the two speedy groups of leaders and again ran respectably under his big weight. His rating leaves him few opportunities and he has come up short in Group class.Merlin's Dancer did best of the trailblazers and he looks to remain on a winning mark when getting genuinely fast ground. Mutamared ran well for a six-furlong horse coming back to five, considering he was hanging badly left throughout. He goes for the Wokingham and must be of interest despite suffering with the handicapper recently.

Night Prospector, who won the Temple here a couple of years ago, surprisingly could not lie up with them andthe handicapper has cut him little slack. Empress Jain, the only three-year-old in the race, added to that generation's poor record in this contest, but she ran well to a point, although she was favourably drawn and broke with her customary dash. Peace Offering, last year's runner-up, was disappointing, fading quickly after showing good speed in the middle of the stands' side group, and Texas Gold, who has a good record, was another disappointment for no obvious reason.

Cape Royal ruined his chance again by starting very slowly before showing speed, while Fire Up The Band was eased right down when beaten in the final furlong. [BJ]

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