It's the start of Doncaster's four-day St Leger meeting tomorrow and Norton jockey Tom Eaves is aiming to figure in the thick of the action aboard a horse who has already done him proud.

Eaves teams-up with Chookie Heiton in the totesport Portland Handicap and has a great chance of landing this £50,000 event aboard the Ian Semple-trained sprinter, who has provided the rider with his two Listed-race wins.

Both those were gained in the Beverley Bullet race, most recently last month when Chookie Heiton repeated his victory of last year when coming late and fast to triumph.

Tomorrow five and a half furlongs will suit the Scottish raider down to the ground and he should give Eaves a great ride in a wide-open race, in which all eyes will be on Halmahera, trained at Hambleton by Kevin Ryan.

This popular gelding has, remarkably, won the last three runnings of the Portland Handicap, a history-making achievement.

To complete a four-timer tomorrow would be quite extraordinary and, although my heart says Halmahera, I fear that, at the age of ten, Neil Callan's mount will find another triumph beyond him.

The £300,000 St Leger Yearling Stakes, confined to two-year-olds who changed hands at last year's St Leger sales across the road from the course, has again attracted a maximum field.

Pickett has proved a good money-spinner already for trainer Eoghan O'Neill and Graham Gibbons' mount, runner-up in the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood last time, has strong claims on the evidence of that Group 3 form.

Frankie Dettori can clinch the Park Hill Stakes aboard Punctilious, just as he did twelve months ago on Echoes In Eternity, also trained by Saeed Bin Suroor for Godolphin.

Punctilious has won her last two races, her most recent success being gained last month in the Yorkshire Oaks on Knavesmire, where she beat Dash To The Top by half a length.

The tough and consistent Macvel (1.15) and the smart Babe Maccool (4.40) are also worth noting on the Doncaster programme.

At Epsom, Sir Mark Prescott, fined £2,000 over the running of the unplaced Secret Liason, who was adjudged by the stewards not to have run on its merits at Newcastle yesterday, can bounce back with Nap selection Oblique in the Chorus Group Handicap.

Winner of both her races this season, at Newcastle and Beverley, Oblique now steps-up to a mile and a half for the first time. This sort of distance should bring out the best in her and a hat-trick looks on the cards for the three-year-old.

Jamie Spencer, heading the jockeys' championship, looks set to enjoy a lucrative afternoon at the home of the Derby.

He can score on the promising Packing Hero (2.10) and Red Duster (3.25), a beaten favourite last time.

Wednesday's tips:

Doncaster

1.15 Macvel, 1.50 Pickett, 2.25 Chookie, Heiton, 2.55 Punctilious, 3.30 City of Troy, 4.05 Criminal Act, 4.40 Babe Maccool.

Epsom

2.10 Packing Hero, 2.45 Alabama Twist, 3.15 Red Duster, 3.50 Putra Kuantan, 4.25 Oblique (Nap), 5.00 Del Mar Sunset.

Tomorrow's other race meeting is at Uttoxeter (afternoon, National Hunt).

Updated: 12:37 Tuesday, September 06, 2005