Racing: Winner for Scott's successor

ED DUNLOP, the former assistant trainer to the late Alex Scott, registered his first success at the helm of Oak Stables yesterday when Lynton Lad won at Yarmouth.

Dunlop, 25, took over the running of the Newmarket yard after Scott was found dead at his stud in the town at the end of last month. Yesterday, the day after Scott's funeral, Britain's newest trainer remembered his old mentor. 'Alex was a great man to work for and a great friend,' he said.

'Given the circumstances, I'm delighted. Let's hope this is the first of many winners, for Alex and for the staff.

'More important though, is our runner Emily-Mou (who is named after Scott's daughter) at Pontefract tomorrow, as she is owned by Julia Scott (the trainer's widow).'

There was further success for Newmarket when John Gosden's Assyrian provided Lanfranco Dettori with his 230th winner of the season, a success which overtook the best ever total recorded by the Italian's father, Gianfranco.

'I tried to get my dad to come here, but he was quite busy and couldn't come,' Dettori said. 'But he'll be very pleased. I am glad to beat his record, but I didn't realise it would be quite this hard.'

Dettori now has the big daddy of them all in his sights and needs 39 more victories to equal a season's best figure established by Sir Gordon Richards.

David Elsworth's seasonal total increased by one yesterday when Absalom's Lady was confirmed as the winner of the Captain Quist Hurdle at Kempton on Saturday. The grey had originally been announced as a dead-heater with Large Action by judge Jane Stickels, who amended her decision hours later.