DESPITE been awarded another plum ride in Saturday's big race at Ascot, North Yorkshire jockey Kevin Darley is keeping his feet on the ground regarding his champion jockey odds.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Evening Press, the Sheriff Hutton rider - currently joint-leader of the jockeys' table, alongside Pat Eddery, with 83 winners this season - will be aboard the Michael Stoute-trained Beat All in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.

However, despite yet another confidence boost, plus the fact 11-times champion Eddery is currently serving an 18-day ban, he still believes that his two main championship rivals - the other being Richard Quinn, three winners behind in the table - have a better chance of lifting the much-prized title.

"I'm going flat out for it but I haven't got a big yard behind me," Darley told the Evening Press.

"The likes of Pat and Quinny have got big stables backing them, yards such as (Henry) Cecil, (Michael) Stoute and (John) Dunlop."

Darley, however, did not rule himself out of the reckoning. "Looking at it realistically, if I'm still in touch by the end of the night meetings, which finish in the third week in August, I think I'd have more of a chance of winning it," he said.

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