SOME racehorses are named in hope rather than glory, sentiments that may originally have applied to Desert Deer in the belief the colt at least had a chance of emulating his fleet-of-foot counterpart in the animal kingdom.

Thankfully from the moment Desert Deer went into training a couple of years ago he always shaped as if he would live up to his name and has since won four of his six starts.

And this afternoon at York in the Listed Strensall Stakes Mark Johnston's four-year-old bids to top up his career earnings, already in excess of £40,000, by claiming the £22,000 first prize for the one-mile-one-furlong contest.

Desert Deer streaked streets clear of his rivals on his comeback race at Newmarket in May prior to a largely disappointing run at Royal Ascot in the Group 1 St James' Palace Stakes won by the all-conquering Rock Of Gibraltar.

For the record the St James' Palace turned out to be one of the hottest mile races of the season and in hindsight Desert Deer probably didn't do too badly taking on the cream of Europe's milers.

One thing is for sure, he's being dropped massively in class on the Knavesmire today and if he is anywhere near his best should win with a little bit to spare.

It's going to be fast and furious for the six furlong Peterhouse Rated Stakes, a ten runner sprint in which none of the contestants can be discounted with any confidence.

The pick of the weights is without question Smart Predator, however, John Quinn's dashing grey has not really been sparkling during his 2002 campaign so preference is Peruvian Chief (2.55).

Although something of an all-weather specialist, his turf form is not bad either, including a cracking second from a dreadful draw at Chester earlier on this week.

In the closing Apprentice Handicap, Colway Ritz (4.55) has everything in his favour.

First of all he's plummeted to an all-time low in the ratings after two barren years. At the start of last season Colway Ritz was on a mark of 80, he's now down to 45, back on his favoured fast ground, plus running over his optimum trip of an extended mile-and-a-quarter.

Throw in the expertise of Claire Roche in the saddle, and in theory we should have a ready-made success.

Another girl rider very much in the news at present is Hayley Turner, who has booted home seven winners over the past three weeks.

One of those scorers was Gooodenough Mover, now bound for Lingfield having smashed up a low-grade field at Salisbury last time out. Turner rode Jeff King's seven furlong specialist to perfection that day and I fancy she'll adopt the same catch-me-if-you-can tactics in the ladbroke.com Handicap at the Surrey venue.

l Seb Sanders continued his late charge for the champion jockeys' title with a 53-1 double at Brighton.

l Darlington trainer Michael Dods enjoyed a 14-1 success at Yarmouth yesterday when Diamond Racket won the 3.15 race.

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