Racing: Trump to turn over Turtle

THE ONLY thing in Peter Chapple-Hyam's yard that does not have a bright future is the trainer's waistline. The cheerfully chubby figure who has saddled most of the two-year-old winners worth having this year has just embarked on a sponsored slim, but the wealth of juvenile talent at Manton will ensure that if, like the Cheshire Cat, he fades away to nothing, a broad grin will remain.

A mark of the strength of Chapple-Hyam's young generation is that he contests today's July Stakes at Newmarket with Turtle Island, rather than Stonehatch, who was also in the five- day entries. The trainer places Turtle Island behind Stonehatch and State Performer in the Manton order of merit, but clearly still feels that this Group Three event is well within reach for the Norfolk Stakes winner.

Turtle Island carries a 5lb penalty for that success, but a more worrying thought is that the Royal meeting could have left him with another, less tangible burden. Though he won with ease, Turtle Island might prefer a little more than three weeks to recover from a Pattern race on soft ground. Though Chapple-Hyam's confidence is highly infectious, First Trump (4.10) could be a better choice while the Ascot hangovers may still be lingering.

More rewarding odds will be offered about Chapple-Hyam's runner in the Falmouth Stakes, FEMININE WILES (nap 3.40). She, too, competed at the Royal meeting, but conversely may have benefited from the exercise.

'She's not fully wound up yet,' Chapple-Hyam said before her distant eighth in the Queen Anne Stakes. 'Her race is the Falmouth Stakes, that's when I'll have her fully wound up.'

Stonehatch, rather surprisingly, appears in the form for Shuttlecock, who contests the juvenile seller which opens the card. However, although he was fifth to Chapple-Hyam's colt at York in May, Shuttlecock was only slightly closer to the winner than the doorman at the City's Viking Centre. This is a cut above most sellers, and Forest Loch (next best 2.00) is surely too good to contest another.

Bare form might suggest that Kassbaan (3.10) is heading in the opposite direction, but though he has failed to make the frame in two races since winning in May, in each his path has been a troubled one. Newmarket offers less scope for traffic problems and he can help the bookmakers to lose a few pounds.

Chapple-Hyam would approve.