GOLDEN NUN gets the green light to grab Group 3 glory in the £50,000 Chartwell Fillies Stakes at Lingfield today.

Tim Easterby's filly was placed numerous times in decent company last season and by finishing runner-up in a similar standard event at The Curragh late last month, she showed her turn was surely near.

A big, strapping filly with a terrific turn of foot, there's nothing particularly holy about Golden Nun (2.05) because she's prone to throw in the odd stinker. But when Easterby's North Yorkshire-based raider is prepared to put her best foot forward, she can cut the mustard with the majority of her contemporaries over six or seven furlongs.

Richard Quinn's job aboard the selection has been made marginally easier by the testing underfoot conditions, which should not only suit the four-year-old, but just as importantly inconvenience a lot of her rivals, most of whom would prefer a firmer surface.

Just like yesterday's Dee Stakes at Chester, the Derby Trial has attracted a pitifully small field totally unworthy of the £60,000 purse on offer.

One of the quintet, Maidstone Midas, is a complete no-hoper, and my pick of the other four is North Light (3.10), who has reportedly been working with a great deal of zest on the Newmarket gallops for his trainer, Sir Michael Stoute.

"He's a lovely colt and has done very well since his last appearance on a racetrack," revealed the reigning champion jockey, Kieren Fallon, the rider of North Light in the mile-and-a-half, Group 3 affair.

Beverley's bumper card kicks off with a fiercely competitive five-furlong sprint, fancied to fall to Bahamian Pirate (1.50).

The Dandy Nicholls-trained speedster loves a stiff track, therefore the fact that Beverley's home straight resembles the side of mountain is perfect for Bahamian Pirate's style of running.

Not normally the quickest starter, don't expect this consistent nine-year-old to appear on the premises until late on as he usually makes up his ground when other legs are beginning to wilt.

Previous course and distance winner Best Port (3.25) looks good to stage a repeat performance in the C.G.I. Stayers Handicap.

What the diminutive gelding lacks in stature, he more than makes up for with sheers guts when the jockey is shovelling on the coal in the closing stages.

If more proof is required to substantiate the bravery claims of Best Port then seek no further than his latest start at Nottingham, where he dug deep into his reserves of stamina to overhaul Paul Blockley's Intensity in the dying strides of the near two-mile contest.

The nap vote goes to Santiburi Lad (5.35) in the concluding ten-furlong Lady Amateur Handicap.

Bound to go off at decent price, Santiburi Lad failed to make his mark over hurdles this winter, but I believe he still has sufficient fire in his belly to add to an already fairly impressive tally on the level.

Over the sticks at Hexham, Garde Bien (4.05) is given one last chance to show he's not a total duffer by winning the Tant Pis Handicap Chase.

Tipped up by this column on the majority of his starts this term, Ferdy Murphy's representative has sadly yet to produce the goods. Like so many of Ferdy's string, Garde Bien has probably been suffering from the bug that laid his stable low during January and February, but now that his horses seem to have recovered, the time has come to retrieve past losses.

* John Gosden yesterday added Shady Reflection to the Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at York on Tuesday. The race was re-opened as only eight horses had been entered for the Group Three contest.

The filly, owned by Maktoum Al Maktoum, made all the running over a mile at Ascot last week when short-heading Glen Innes.

The latter, trained by David Loder, was among the original entries, along with stablemate Bay Tree.

Gosden is also double-handed at this stage with Bowstring, but she has been declared for the Antonia Cridland Oaks Trial today.

Aidan O'Brien's sole Musidora entry Baraka is also an intended runner in Lingfield's Listed contest.

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