JOHN GOSDEN could hold the key to this afternoon's Group 1 Lockinge Stakes at Newbury because both of his runners, Desert Deer and Ikhtyar, are entitled to serious consideration.

Although my money is on Desert Deer (2.40), I shall also be having a small saver on Ikhtyar in the event of the former getting up to his old tricks and disgracing himself at the start.

Twelve months ago in this very event, Desert Deer, a colossal son of Cadeaux Generuex, threw the toys out of the pram and refused to enter the stalls. It is an unfortunate trait since in all other aspects Desert Deer is an absolute saint on the racecourse, a point proven by his string of Listed and Group race successes over the past three seasons.

His reluctance to enter the stalls is semi-excusable on account of his sheer size, which probably leads to a feeling of claustrophobia once the tailgates are slammed shut and he is briefly locked away in his own individual berth.

However, should Desert Deer enter the stalls smoothly, one thing is for sure he will emerge like a scalded cat and the others had better look out if Kevin Darley manages to establish the sort of long early lead achieved by the 2003 hero of the £200,000 race, Hawk Wing.

Ikhtyar almost certainly will not be up with the early pace. Richard Hills' mount stays ten furlongs, so he might be tapped for toe over the first half of the race, but once Hills goes for warp factor nine, his horse has the class to make up a good deal of ground when other legs are tiring.

* Graham Wylie has added to his expanding portfolio of jumpers by snapping up Gowran Park bumper winner Bewleys Berry.

The six-year-old hacked up by eight lengths on his debut last month, when under the care of John Berry, and will now be sent to Howard Johnson's County Durham stable.

''He'd won a couple of point-to-points so we had a good look at him and decided to buy him,'' Wylie told the Racing Post.

Get more on racing at our Racing North site.