Racing: Dumaran the focus as Fallon returns to public scrutiny

All eyes will be on Kieren Fallon this afternoon at Kempton on his return to the saddle after serving the 21-day suspension he picked up for losing a race when dropping his hands at Lingfield last month. And with a Jockey Club disciplinary inquiry with charges of bringing the sport into disrepute hanging over him, it is fair to assume that everything he is on today will get ridden out, and some. He will not be finishing 14th if by bashing the beast he could finish 12th.

All eyes will be on Kieren Fallon this afternoon at Kempton on his return to the saddle after serving the 21-day suspension he picked up for losing a race when dropping his hands at Lingfield last month. And with a Jockey Club disciplinary inquiry with charges of bringing the sport into disrepute hanging over him, it is fair to assume that everything he is on today will get ridden out, and some. He will not be finishing 14th if by bashing the beast he could finish 12th.

Punters, though, are a strange breed. It is also fair to say that the champion jockey could turn spare-time axe murderer but as long as he brought the bunny home on a regular basis when it mattered he would be forgiven any trespass. He has six chances today to impress both the backers and the beaks.

Fallon and the shrewd Newmarket trainer Willie Musson, a juxtaposition of names that has brought to fruition more than one cunning plan in the past, team up in the richest contest at the Sunbury track, the £40,000 Rosebery Stakes, with Dumaran (2.10). Musson acquired the six-year-old at the sales last autumn for 22,000 guineas and today is the day he can start repaying the investment.

Dumaran has two duck eggs against his name for his new connections, but both can safely be ignored; first time was a test drive on the sand and then he was drawn on the far, ie wrong, side in the Lincoln, but ran respectably in that group and was doing his best work in the closing stages. Ten furlongs round a bend on drying easy ground with a strong pace (a stablemate is also in the field) will suit him well.

On his last run from the Andrew Balding yard last year Dumaran finished third to Turbo at Newbury and has a useful pull in the weights today. Turbo, who went on to take the November Handicap, also ran down the field in that all-weather sighter in February and was fancied for the Lincoln until a setback ruled him out. He is the danger, with King's Thought another to consider.

The day's second betting puzzle, the Queen's Prize, has been won by a horse fit from hurdling thrice in the past four years and Hawadeth fits that profile nicely. But Reveillez (2.40) shaped last year as if the step up to two miles will be within his compass, especially on a track such as this, and has been working encouragingly at Newmarket. Favourable mention is also given to the filly Teresa, who has, maybe significantly, been kept in training at four and looks a smart staying handicapper in the making.

However Reveillez fares, the James Fanshawe yard should not go home empty handed, although Soviet Song (4.20) will, at prohibitive odds, be one to watch and enjoy rather than bet on. The daughter of Marju, a couple of cuts above today's rivals, was highly tried last term, keeping only Group One company. She should enjoy a confidence-boosting success before stepping up to tackle more top-level prizes on this season's expanded fillies' programme.

As eliminators go the day's two Classic trials turn out to be usually just that. In 25 runnings the colt's contest, the Easter Stakes, has yet to produce a victor of any Classic, even the Italian Guineas to which the winner is commonly directed. But there have been a couple of near-misses; Master Willie, who took the second running in 1980, was touched off in the Derby, and Lucky Lindy went on to beat all bar Rodrigo De Triano on the Rowley Mile 12 years ago.

The only one of today's field with an entry at Newmarket is Barbajuan, winner of last year's Solario Stakes. He has claims but it may pay to side with the less exposed Gravardlax (3.10), another of Fallon's mounts. The son of Salse has yet to get off the mark but there was a lot to like about his attitude in a Newmarket maiden where he helped set the pace and stayed on as others who had been in the van dropped away.

It took the subsequent Listed winner Secret Charm, to better him and victory for HATHRAH (nap 1.35) in today's opener will do much for that line of form. The Linamix grey, runner-up in the Group Two May Hill Stakes before chasing Secret Charm home at Newbury, is one of three in the field with a 1,000 Guineas entry (Halicardia and Why Dubai are the others) and her trainer makes a habit of winning this.

Nights Cross (next best 3.00) is already a veteran of 15 races and should bring his win tally to four at Haydock in the Field Marshal Stakes, a listed affair that gives three-year-old speedsters an early chance to stake claims for sprinting honours.