PERFECT SUNDAY can round off a fabulous few days for Barry Hills by taking this afternoon's Group 3 £60,000 Arena Derby Trial at Lingfield.

The Lambourn handler is on the crest of wave at present having earlier on this week snapped up both the Chester Vase and Cup with Mr Combustible and Rainbow High respectively.

And Hills, the man who so famously set up as a trainer after landing a monumental gamble on the 1968 Lincoln winner Frankincense, must have been absolutely delighted by the way Perfect Sunday (3.40) routed the opposition on his comeback run at Newmarket's Craven Meeting.

The selection should have progressed again fitness-wise for the outing, while considering it's such a prestigious affair, the fact that the likes of Messrs Sir Michael Stoute, John Dunlop, and Henry Cecil, have all stayed away has got to another major bonus.

The less said the better about the pathetic 3-runner show for the £30,000 Oaks Trial, except to note for the record that sponsors such as

Arena will surely be reluctant to stump up further funds in the future only to be rewarded by such a dismal turnout.

To add insult to injury, one of the trio, Charmer Venture, has only won an egg and spoon all-weather event, form nowhere near as good as Silver Grey Lady (2.40), a decisive scorer at Newbury late last month.

Channel 4 cameras are on duty at Lingfield, as well as Beverley where they cover the five-furlong dash at 3.55.

A mammoth 20 sprinters go to post, although those drawn ten and below are likely to struggle since high numbers nearly always hold the call once the ground dries up.

In the circumstances it might be worth taking a dip on Prince Nico from stall number 14. Sand form does not always translate directly to turf, however Prince Nico recently won off a mark of 68 at Wolverhampton, but only has to race off a rating of 61 today.

Watch out also for Tim Easterby's recent Sedgefield hurdles' winner, Running Times (3.25), who switches deftly back to the level for the two-miler at 3.25.

Mark Johnston's Desert Deer (2.00) will likely start at long odds-on in the first at Hamilton over one-mile-and-one-furlong.

Short-priced horses in maiden races generally have a pretty decent strike-rate, and Desert Deer, a positive giant of a three-year-old should oblige in a proverbial hack canter.

Another trainer whose stable is beginning to catch fire is that of David Nicholls.

He has terrific prospects of a double at the Scottish track via Sihafi (3.30) and Speedy James (4.00).

Two seasons ago Sihafi won no less than nine times. Things weren't quite so hot in the year 2000, none the less he still managed to hit the target twice at Lingfield and Musselburgh.

Speedy James has found it far tougher in admittedly much stronger company.

Ever the opportunist, Nicholls has now lowered his sights with the gelding, a tactic with the potential to come up trumps in the £10,000 Tote Exacta Handicap.

Excellent action over the sticks at Hexham where trainer Richard Ford, currently nursing a badly broken leg, is due a welcome tonic via Beehive Lad (2.00) in the Buchanan Ales Novices' Hurdles.

Placed on two of his last three starts, Beehive Lad has been found a relatively soft race in order to try and open his account.

The presence of trailblazer Singing Sand (3.35) means an almost assured blistering pace for the two mile Tant Handicap Chase.

He's a clean jumping tough cookie at best, who might just be hard to catch if given too much rope by the rest of the field.

Finally to Thirsk's evening meeting, which gets underway with a competitive two-year-old claimer.

Bill Turner and his jockey Alan Daly, successful at Ayr yesterday with the very speedy Poyle Magic, look to have the right sort of ammunition with Quite Remarkable (6.15) to notch yet another juvenile winner.

The Danzig Connection gelding has twice performed with credit at Nottingham and Brighton in better class contests.

Turner's plan to drop his raider in grade, rather than persist in Maiden Auction company, seems highly sensible, especially now that some of more powerful yards are on the verge of unleashing their two-year-old teams.

Atlantic Eagle (7.15), a most attractive son of the top American sire Mt Livermore, has bright prospects of landing the Jack Calvert Maiden Stakes. He didn't pull up any trees in a couple spins at Newmarket and Doncaster last term. However, those efforts were at Grade 1 tracks, whereas this evening he faces a much less testing task.