RICHARD HILLS was handed a free passport to fame and fortune when he was appointed first jockey to Hamdan Al Maktoum, the powerful Dubai-based owner whose charismatic royal blue and white colours have claimed a bevy of British and European Pattern races over the past 15 years.

Never a season goes by without Sheikh Hamdan providing Hills with yet another star in the making, and Newbury-bound Hathrah (1.40) looks like another to have rolled off the 2003 production line.

Having bounded clear of a modest field of maidens at Newmarket, Hathrah then made a giant leap in class to contest the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster's St Leger meeting.

The John Dunlop-trained filly nearly forfeited all not long after the stalls flew open when stumbling badly and losing many lengths. For one of modest ability that would have been end of story, but the little lady was not for turning and she fought back like a lioness to get within a length-and-a-half of the potentially top-class Miss Kinnaird.

A reproduction of that form would surely be sufficient to capture the Listed Southall Radley Stakes, a race in which theoretically at least Hills should enjoy an armchair ride aboard Hathrah.

The feature event on the card, the Group 3 St Simon Stakes is a fiercely-competitive affair including last year's winner, The Whistling Teal, recent Ascot scorer High Accolade (2.45), plus the gutsy northern raider, Scott's View.

Ultra-consistent Scott's View is a must for each-way backers, but as far as on-the-nose bets are concerned, High Accolade (2.45), a three-year-old with a proven record at this level, just gets the nod.

At last a modicum of ease in the ground has produced numerically a more interesting jumping fixture at Carlisle, but the same cannot be said for drought-ridden Kempton.

Best bet at the Cumbrian course rates Valeureux (4.20), a big bull of a gelding blessed with an ideal physique for the rough and tumble of the winter game.

Valeureux showed noticeable improvement on the flat in the summer, which he then proceeded to carry forward to the jumps arena with a runaway win on his return to hurdling at Hexham.

There's a quality field for the £20,000 Worthington Handicap Chase, a pot well within the compass of Virgin Soldier (3.45).

He is fully expected to progress significantly now that he is stepped up to a trip of three miles for the first time.

Victory for Nero's Return (3.40) at Doncaster would only serve to strengthen Mark Johnston's already awesome team for next year's 2,000 Guineas.

With the likes of Pearl Of Love, Lucky Story, and Russian Valour all high on the list of this season's leading British juvenile colts, Johnston has an embarrassment of riches in the two-year-old division.

Each one of those star-studded trio had been successfully strutting their stuff at grade one venues such as Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood well before Nero's Return burst on the scene with a truly electric ten-length debut triumph at York this month.

Until that point the son of Mujadil had not been considered to be in the front rank of the Johnston gang - in fact he was sent off at the ridiculously generous starting price of 14-1 on the Knavesmire.

Surprise, surprise, in the aftermath of the blitz some bookies totally changed their tune, quoting Nero's Return as low as 33-1 for next year's colts' Classic.

"The race at Doncaster looks pretty hot, but he came out of the York contest well and this is one way of finding out just good he is," reported Johnston.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating and Mark is spot-on in his assessment of the opposition lining up for the Constant Security Stakes.

But that shouldn't put anyone off backing Nero's Return.

The nap, Jeepstar (2.30), runs in the slightly earlier mile-and-a-half Ten To Follow Handicap.

Tim Easterby's powerhouse was unsuited by the drop back to ten furlongs last time out at York, and if he's still on top of his game after quite a hard campaign he will relish this marginally stiffer track and return to a longer distance.

* BRAVO DANCER landed a tasty 11-2 winning nap for Janus (Colin Woods) at Doncaster yesterday.

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