Racing: Alflora odds offer Champion value: The Classic generation may flounder again at Newmarket on Saturday and an older horse can float to the fore

'AS FAR as I can see there's only about four horses in the Champion Stakes who the ground will suit,' Clive Brittain, trainer of Alflora, said yesterday, 'and he's one of them.'

But Muhtarram, the ante- post favourite, is not. John Gosden's colt has yet to race on ground any softer than good, and his style of running suggests that an easy surface will not be in his favour. With the rainfall at Newmarket this week already being measured in feet rather than inches, his current price is hardly irresistible.

Yesterday, Muhtarram started a walk in the market which could turn into a sprint before the weekend. Ladbrokes moved him out to 9-4 from 7-4 in the face of strong support for his stablemate, Knifebox, a confirmed soft- ground performer, who is now 9-2 with that firm although 11-2 should be available elsewhere this morning.

But while Knifebox has won two Group races in recent weeks, the opposition has not been imposing and he is far from a solid bet in an open race. Better value is on offer further down the list.

The relative merit of this year's Classic generation is shown by their lack of success in any all-aged British Group One contest of 10 furlongs or more. Dancing Bloom and the free-falling Tenby do not look capable of reversing the trend, while the only other three- year-old in the race, Dernier Empereur, has won just one of his six starts this year.

Bookmakers rarely make mistakes in high-class contests, but the offer of 14-1 about Alflora, a dependable and classy performer, is worth taking, . He has had plenty of racing this year - he finished second in the Doncaster Mile on the opening day of the turf season back in March - but he is a tough horse, and had a break two-month break before finishing second in the Prix du Rond-Point on Arc day. Above all, he will float through the ground.

'If he doesn't win a Group One he'll almost certainly get an invitation to Hong Kong, so he'll be racing on 12 December and I didn't want him to get overdone too much,' Brittain said yesterday. By Saturday evening, he may be rewriting the itinerary.

Ante-post interest in the weekend's big races was one of the few outlets left for die-hard punters yesterday, as Chepstow failed an inspection to leave only Sedgefield preventing a blank day. There may be further problems today as heavy overnight rain was forecast for Exeter and the stewards will be up early to inspect the damage. At Redcar, due to stage the Tote Two- Year-Old Trophy tomorrow, the ground is officially soft but seems sure to deteriorate further following heavy rain yesterday. The sponsors of that contest found backers for two outsiders with form on the ground, Braille (20-1 from 33-1) and Hello Mister (66-1 from 100-1).

Similar optimism would have been needed to find Integrity Boy, 40-1 winner of the Plumb Center Handicap Hurdle at Sedgefield. His trainer, Ron O'Leary, was as surprised as anybody, saying: 'I never had a pound on him but at least he got us off the mark for the season.'

John Hellens, in his first season with a full trainer's licence, and conditional jockey Andrew Larnach recorded their first double with Fell Warden and Logamimo. Larnach, though, was badly kicked by a following horse when falling four from home in the last race, and limped back to the weighing room. However, he hopes to ride at Wetherby today.

Former leading apprentice Steve Dawson, who has ridden just one winner in Britain this season, has decided to try his luck on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. He rides out 10 horses before dawn on the track at Port Louis and has six race rides every Saturday for his retained stable.

(Photograph omitted)