EXTRA spice has been added to this afternoon's meeting at Ascot, where Kieren Fallon and Frankie Dettori continue to trade punches in the big fight for this year's Flat jockeys' championship.

Dettori is favourite to win rounds one and two by taking the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes on Perfectperformance (1.55), plus the Group 1 Meon Valley Stud Fillies Mile when partnering Dubai Surprise (2.30).

Given the huge amount of firepower available in Godolphin's mighty army of horses, it can be no coincidence that Saeed Bin Suroor has picked out Perfectperformance to represent the boys in blue for one of the most important juvenile races of the year.

Beaten just once in three starts, the selection is sure to relish the stiff uphill finish at the course, a test likely to catch out one or two of his principal rivals.

Godolphin's former retained two-year-old trainer, David Loder, has to get by with less impressive ammunition these days. However, given the tackle, he'll do the job and in the shape of Dubai Surprise Loder has a top-class filly on his hands.

On her latest outing, with only three furlongs left to travel, Dubai Surprise looked dead and buried in among the stragglers for the Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Loder's heart must surely have been in his boots until jockey Ryan Moore, not for the first time this season, waved his magic wand and conjured up a stunning late blitz to land the spoils.

Inexplicably, Dettori has failed to pick up a ride in the £70,000 totejackpot Stakes, opening the door for Fallon to keep his title challenge alive on Funfair (3.35).

I was on hand to see Funfair make his belated seasonal reappearance at Doncaster a fortnight ago and can confirm that he appeared a tad porky in the paddock. The useful five-year-old had clearly been enjoying his nosh while not quite doing sufficient exercise to wear off the extra inch around his generous girth-line.

The St Leger fixture outing should have put him spot-on for this afternoon's heat, plus tee him up for a possible crack at next month's Cambridgeshire, a race in which I have already had a small ante-post wedge on Funfair at 16-1.

You'd expect a mare with a name like Convent Girl (4.45) to behave appropriately, however that hasn't been the case for her backers, who have lost their dough time and-time again over the past few months.

The problem stems from a tendency to pull with great venom in the early stages, resulting in a lack of fuel when regular pilot Rob Halvin has asked for a final push to the line.

Little-known Halvin is no mug in the saddle, and he finally got her to behave at Salisbury this month, where she was accelerating, rather than stopping, throughout the final 200 yards of the race.

That was a seven-furlong affair, whereas she now returns to her optimum trip of one-mile in the Rosemary Stakes, a listed handicap in which the Nerys Dutfield-trained raider finished runner-up 12 months ago, and now has an excellent chance of going one better from a 6lbs lower mark.

Pick of the action at Ripon revolves around the outcome of the £20,000 Commission Cutters Handicap, fancied to fall to Dazzling Bay (2.55).

I believe Tim Easterby's gelding is totally different gear to his rivals seeing as he signalled a return to form was imminent by finishing third to the Group class sprinter, Baltic King, at Beverley just four days ago.

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