FAST-IMPROVING sprinter Bridgewater Boys showed his rivals a clean pair of heels when landing the Norman Wells Memorial Trophy at Ripon last night.

Rider Royston French was initially content to bide his time in mid-division.

However, when he did ask his mount for an effort, the response was immediate as Bridgewater Boys lengthened his stride and powered clear in the final 100 yards of the six-furlong dash.

Trainer Kevin Ryan was not on hand to greet his winner, leaving the job to his vastly-experienced assistant, the former top northern jockey, Mark Birch, who said: "The horse is thriving physically and has done well for being ridden out everyday by Donna Caldwell."

Bridgewater Boys is owned by an enthusiastic seven-strong syndicate made up of probation officers and Timeform employees, the latter no doubt providing the expertise to claim him out of the John Weymes' stable on May 31 at Catterick last year.

"Bridgewater Boys has done really well, that's the fifth time he's won for us," revealed syndicate spokesman," Michael Pavlovic.

Darryll Holland made the dash up from Royal Ascot pay when he booted home the hot-favourite, Pike Bishop, in the Novice Median Auction Stakes.

With Tim Easterby's Algorithm refusing to enter the stalls Pike Bishop was left with just four to beat, a task the handsome near-black colt achieved without so much as breaking into a sweat.

There was a lively auction following the easy win by Weet Watchers in the opening Apprentice Selling Stakes.

Jockey Mark Halford, riding his fourth winner in all, enjoyed an armchair conveyance aboard Weet Watchers, who streaked five lengths clear inside the final furlong.

But successful trainer David Nicholls, representing Ernie Greaves, was unable to hang on to the horse, which was sold to Ed Weetman for 8,600 guineas.

It was a something of tit-for-tat purchase, because a group of Nicholls' owners had claimed Weet Watchers from Ed at Beverley in April after the five-year-old had finished third in a similar standard race at the track.

The well-backed 7-2 favourite, Olivia Rose, made no mistake when recording her third win of the season under Jimmy Quinn, who conjured up a late surge on the mare to cut down Go Tech in the closing stages of the Mile-and-a-quarter Pricewatercoopers Handicap.

* Bookmakers consolidated their gains from the opening day as punters again struggled to find the winners at Royal Ascot.

Despite the victory of the well-supported Damson in the Queen Mary Stakes and the popular success of Rakti in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, backers were spreading enough of their money around elsewhere to ensure that the layers escaped serious injury.

After Godolphin had taken the first race with Kheleyf, punters followed the hint and got stuck into the stable's Crimson Palace, Sulamani and Zosima to keep up the good work.

But all three let their supporters down and the money stayed in the satchel.

Crimson Palace in particular was backed to the exclusion of virtually of all her rivals in the Windsor Forest Stakes, only to turn in a below-par effort which left the bookmakers rubbing their hands with glee.

''All the big players got stuck into Crimson Palace at the early prices and backed it from 15-8 in the morning to 6-5. Her getting rolled over was a huge result,'' said Dublin-based layer Paddy Power.

''The only loser was Damson, when punters were jamming our phone lines to get on.

''After day two, the score is Paddy Power 2 Punters 0 - but then the backers have come from behind before and we'll be taking nothing for granted.''

Get more on racing at our Racing North site.