Catterick and Lingfield

The racing at Catterick and Lingfield this afternoon serves mainly to fill in the gaps between races at Newmarket and the quality on offer is poor. At Lingfield, where the first 3 races are run on turf and the last 3 on the all-weather, the 6 furlongs maiden at 17.30 CET should in theory go to Stuart Kittow´s Desert Pride (Fergus Sweeney), who has been runner-up in 2 of his 3 races, but Andrew Balding´s Night Rocket (Franny Norton) looks interesting, having finished a good third on his debut 20 months ago and not having raced since. The best race at Catterick is the 2 mile handicap at 16.30, in which the two top-weights Winged d´Argent (Barry Llewellyn/ Tyrone Williams), back to form with an easy win last time, and consistent Numero Due (George Moore/ Neil Brown) should figure prominently. San Silvestre (Anne Duffield/ Royston Ffrench), an easy winner of his only start so far over this CD in November, is an interesting runner in the 7 furlongs 3yo handicap at 15.55 and has top-weight Dream Express (Michael Dods/ Neil Brown) to beat.