KIEREN FALLON'S chances of retaining the jockey's championship are about to take a severe knock with the prospect of a long suspension looming.

Due to a whole series of minor riding misdemeanours, Fallon has unfortunately fallen foul of Portman Square's so-called "totting up procedure".

But before the Jockey Club disciplinary committee show him the red card, Fallon can make hay while the sun shines at Newcastle this afternoon aboard Lucayan Dancer (3.20) in the feature event on the card, the £22,250 Chisholm Bookmakers Nursery Handicap.

The forecasters are promising us some fair weather for the Bank Holiday meeting at the Tyneside track and with Kieren enjoying a rich vein of form his supporters can hopefully look forward to bolstering their respective bank balances.

Lucayan Dancer was, in the view of many a good judge, a shade unlucky not to have picked up a similarly decent prize at Glorious Goodwood, where to coin a well-known Batman expression, "he finished faster than a speeding bullet".

How Fallon and partner got into so much trouble early on at Goodwood remains a slight mystery, however in mitigation Lucayan Dancer didn't really handle the predominantly downhill course too well.

Newcastle's terrain is much flatter in nature, a factor that should enable Ed Dunlop's colt to utilise his long, raking stride to winning effect.

Staying power rather than speed is the main characteristic required for the following Newcastle Falcons Handicap, scheduled to be contested over one-mile-and-three-quarters.

The presence of copious levels of juice in the turf may help to turn the race into a potential slog, so favouring Eric Alston's Dance In the Day (3.55).

Rather like a good old-fashioned county class cricket seam bowler, Dance in the Day is not over blessed with pace, but what he lacks in "nip", he more than makes up for by continuing to plug away when some of his flashier rivals have burnt themselves out.

Kevin Ryan, enjoying his best season and in among the winners yet again at Beverley yesterday, looks the trainer to follow in the opener at Ripon with Axford Lord (2.20).

The selection has gone fairly close on several occasions this year and definitely wouldn't be winning out of turn in the Fresh AM Selling Stakes.

Of much more interest to purists of the sport is the outcome of the Ripon Champion Two Year Old Trophy, a listed contest which often throws up a really precocious juvenile.

This year's renewal has attracted a particularly strong field, including Sir Mark Prescott's unbeaten filly, Cool Question (4.00). Prescott's youngster may have only won low grade contests to date, but she's obviously been giving out all the right signals on the home gallops since her battling victory at Yarmouth late last month.

There are raiders en-masse from our region going over for the National Hunt fixture at the popular Lake District venue of Cartmel.

One such example is Kate Milligan's Danteco (2.15), who could go well at a rewarding starting price in the E S Hartly Novices' Hurdle.

* Mister Cosmi made Mark Johnston's trip to Germany worthwhile when storming home in the Listed Preis Des Casino Baden-Baden.

The three-year-old, who was sent off the 5-2 favourite, was slightly late to leave the stalls but was soon put into the lead by his jockey Kevin Darley.

When turning into the final straight of the Baden-Baden one-mile event Darley asked him to quicken and the result was never in doubt as he strode clear to score by two and a half lengths from Alinorus.

''He was as cool as a cucumber,'' said Darley. ''It worries you a little how he comes out of the gate but I booted him out to the front and he was happy in that position. This is definitely his trip. If he can do everything himself like here he would always be difficult to beat.''

Johnston added: ''Before the race I thought he would win. But when I came out here I started to get cold feet as my German friends kept telling me that the number three (Whisperer) in that race was the one to beat even though I thought that Mister Cosmi's form was much better.

''This was a nice stepping stone in class for him. We wanted to see how he runs over that distance as there are some nice races in Italy for him seeing as the owner is Italian.''

Mister Cosmi was Darley's second ride of the day as he had also partnered the Jonnie Portman-trained Havantadoubt in the Kronimus-Rennen Listed event.

However, he was out of luck as Havantadoubt faded to finish seventh after a slow start

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