REDCAR'S new season kicks off with some competitive racing, including the Manny Bernstein Fillies Handicap in which Peyto Princess (3.55) is fancied to prevail for her new handler, Mark Buckley.

It's been a good few days for the Buckley family considering both recent Durham National winner Random Harvest plus Leicester Flat scorer Effervesce both successfully carried the colours of Mark's father, Chris, over the weekend.

Mark acquired Peyto Princess from Chris Fairhurst's stable in the close season and the five-year-old mare responded to the change of scenery from Middleham to Lincolnshire by finishing a close-up third on her first start for the stable at Folkestone.

To be fair, Peyto Princess normally does run well at this time of year, but the real change of tactic from the Buckley camp was to switch the selection back to five furlongs, having been campaigned over six furlongs or more for the whole of 2002.

Whether the move will ultimately pay dividends we shall see because with only one win in 28 starts, the five-year-old has proved devilishly difficult to place on account of an unduly harsh handicap mark, which was no real fault of Fairhurst, an able trainer in his own right.

Nerys Dutfield generally confines herself to training fillies and Tintawn Gold (2.55), who runs in the Apprentice Maiden Handicap, is no exception.

Despite the fact that the daughter of Rudimentary failed to win as a juvenile, she did show some promise and it was no great surprise when Tintawn Gold stayed on late to grab sixth spot on her reappearance at Warwick this month.

Dutfield rarely pushes her horses too hard on the gallops and its fairly safe to assume that fitness-wise, her three-year-old will have benefited significantly for the outing.

Concerns about the welfare of Mark Johnston's string have been well and truly consigned to the bin as the master of Kingsley House has sent out a steady stream of winners over the last few days.

While his yard is in such prime fettle it's difficult to envisage Johnston's consistent colt, Cabeza de Vaca (4.25), not winning the seven-furlong Maiden Stakes.

Michael Dods has a great chance of scooping the closing mile-and-three-furlong Handicap with Polish Corridor (4.55), a late-maturing four-year-old well worth following this season.

Polish Corridor lost valuable ground when taken wide and was subsequently beaten by Sporting Gesture at Pontefract last time out. Given a more routine ride, the selection may now get his revenge over Sporting Gesture.

* Connections of Sagitta 1000 Guineas hope Russian Rhythm will decide in the next couple of days whether the filly will run on Sunday.

Chris Richardson, spokesman for the filly's owners the Cheveley Park Stud, confirmed they will discuss plans with trainer Sir Michael Stoute today, ahead of tomorrow's 48-hour declaration.

Russian Rhythm, one-time ante-post favourite for the race, has been pleasing connections in her work but she has not come properly in her coat.

Richardson said: ''A decision will be made in the next day or two as to whether she will definitely run.

''It's just one of those things. She's just a little bit wintry in her coat but she's done well, she's grown and matured and there's much to look forward to.''

Russian Rhythm, a daughter of Kingmambo, was one of the top juvenile fillies last year.

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