ON form trainer Michael Dods continued his sparkling early season form with a double at Carlisle yesterday.

And Dods, who trains at Denton, near Darlington, nearly made it a treble when Bundy finished a close second under Liz Maude at Hamilton last night.

Al Azhar, the 3-1 favourite, won the second race at Carlisle, and veteran sprinter Storyteller followed up at 10-1.

Both horses are part owned by Darlington solicitor John Pratt, of local firm Blackett, Hart and Pratt.

Darlington Pools winner Graham Spencer also has a share in Al Azhar but missed the gelding's second win this season because he is holidaying in Spain.

"That's the second time this year he's been away when the horse has won so from now on he's banned from watching him," said Dods last night.

It makes it eight winners already this season for Dods, who trains for The Northern Echo Racing Partnership. It's also the third success of the week, with Smith N Allan Oils going in at Newcastle on Monday.

"We're delighted because it was such a disaster last season," said Dods, who also farms at Denton and was badly affected by foot-and-mouth disease last year.

"But it's a team effort. All the staff are working hard to make it come good and they deserve the credit.

"Al Azhar was unlucky not to win at Newcastle and Tony Culhane told me that if I ran him at Carlisle he'd walk there to ride him. I told him he'd be walking back if he got beat!"

Dods has three runners at Beverley today - Mungo Park, One Domino and Maladerie.

"Mungo Park is not drawn well and he'll have to give away a lot of ground but he'll run a nice race. One Domino is stepping up in class but he might be out of his depth and Maladerie will give Liz Maude a bit more experience.