ABSTEMIOUSLY awaiting his flat racing debut at the age of 48, pub landlord and amateur rider Edward Boynton has enjoyed his first flat success as an owner.

He bought Massey at 11.30pm. Next afternoon it won the 3.30 on the Wolverhampton all-weather - known in the trade as the dirt - a remarkable example of both quick return on investment and of where there's muck there's money.

"I had a bit of a do on him," admits Edward, who runs the Nags Head at Pickhill - off the A1 near Thirsk - with his brother Raymond.

On Tuesday, same place, Massey won for the second time in a week under Lynsey Hanna - 2-1 favourite in a 13 horse race and the column no richer despite a stable whisper audible the length of the Great North Road.

Edward bought Massey from David Barron, who trains at nearby Maunby and is a Nags Head regular. Close to midnight seemed an odd time to be horse trading, nonetheless.

"He bought him at a seller nearly four weeks ago, knew I fancied him and was making himself scarce," says Edward.

"As soon as I heard he'd declared him and got him jocked at Wolverhampton I knew I had to do something.

"David had gone out and I don't think he wanted me to find him. I just kept ringing and ringing. He ran in my name and in my colours 16 hours later."

Victory was also cause for a little drink ("well, quite a big one") after a teetotal New Year in expectation of his own maiden appearance, on Ron's Pet, last Tuesday. Unfortunately all-weather meant all-weather except frost and the meeting was abandoned at 7.45am.

Edward's had the occasional point-to-point outing - readers may recall GBH, now sold with previous convictions - admits that flat-out is altogether scarier and declines to reveal when the next attempt will be.

"There's enough pressure on me already. It's 7,000 miles an hour stuff and you couldn't say I was in the first flush of youth. I could have jocked Lynsey off on Tuesday but it wouldn't have been fair.

"Kevin Darley couldn't have given him a better ride. She was brilliant."

It's a long time, nonetheless, since the Backtrack column has had a stable jockey. Young Edward may consider himself duly appointed.

TOW LAW were at home to South Shields on Tuesday night, the moon still red around the craters. "Is that the eclipse?" mused Mariners fan Derek Hardy. "I didn't think we'd be able to see it this high up." Shields went down 7-3, overshadowed again.

BRECHIN point: John Dawson and his hoppoes (Backtrack, January 9) weren't the only Englishmen at last Saturday's Scottish FA Cup match at Coldstream.

Raye Wilkinson went up from Wensleydale and reckoned that a fair hike, too - until he heard of the two fellow Brechin City fans who'd not only travelled from Barnstaple in Devon but made it in time for the 8.30am pitch inspection.

Brechin, population 7,000 and the smallest place in Britain to support a League football club, is around 40 miles south of Aberdeen.

For both Raye and the Devonians, Coldstream was the closest they'll get to a "home" game.

"Since Berwick and Queen of the South got promoted it's been quite difficult," admits Raye, Middleham-based northern organiser of the Stable Lads Welfare Trust.

His mother's family were from Brechin, he spent several childhood holidays there but has never been to Glebe Park, famed for the hedge down one side and described in Simon Inglis' Football Grounds of Great Britain as a "treasure".

A match at Brechin City is among the column's unfulfilled ambitions, too.

A trip north of the border may shortly be in the offing.

EVEN Barnstaple to Coldstream may be closer than Porthleven to Marske, or Falmouth to Bedlington - short straw long journeys in the FA Carlsberg Vase fourth round on January 20.

Both visiting clubs are in Cornwall. Though Porthleven is as far west as you can get without falling into the Atlantic Ocean, Falmouth have the slightly longer journey - 485.2 miles as the official FA crow flies.

Since gate money is unlikely to cover expenses, however, Marske United commercial manager Steve Davies has had a wizard wheeze.

Steve read somewhere, here probably, that former Boro full back Chris Morris has opened a shop in Hartlepool selling pasties and other delicacies sent daily from the family business in Bodmin, Cornwall's county town.

Gastronomic coals to Chris has therefore been persuaded to lay on the post-match buffet.

"At Marske United," says club chairman John Hodgson, "we like to make people feel at home."

ANOTHER PS to Tuesday's piece on next door neighbourliness in Thames Ditton. The Sunderland fanzine Sex and Chocolate reports that club chairman Bob Murray has ordered an almost lifesize new photograph for the boardroom - it's of Alan Shearer, head in hands, after Sorensen saved the derby penalty.

FULL marks for spelling, Bulldog Billy Teesdale was right to suggest (Backtrack, Tuesday) that it's Reynold McLean - Nixon's brother - who'll be Evenwood Cricket Club's professional next season. Left hand bat, right arm medium-fast,

What he didn't know was that Reynold - already playing for West Indies A and tipped to follow his brother into the Test side - is carrying on a family tradition.

Nixon is fully Nixon Alexei McNamara McLean. Reynold's full monicker (whisper it not in the White Swan at Evenwood) is Reynold Julius Jefferson McLean.

Five of the forenames identify with world leaders through the ages - but anyone know who this Reynold character might be?

BACK to Tow Law, from where Dr Forster reports that the latest fund raising event is to be a Who Wants to be a Millionaire night (as seen at the Dog and Gun, Bearpark).

Rewards may be rather more humble than in the televised version, however. For reaching half a million the lucky contestant will receive a pint, for a million the prize soars munificently to six points.

Six measly pints? "A Tow Law millionaire," says the Doc.

Tuesday's column sought the identity of at least seven English international footballers who also played for both Newcastle and Sunderland.

Paul Dobson in Bishop Auckland came up with ten; Arnold Alton in Heighington managed eight and then, floundering a bit, suggested Alan Foggon. Foggy, 50 next month, never got past the youth team, unfortunately. After his terrific ten - Ernie Taylor, Ivor Broadis, Len Shackleton, Stan Anderson, Alan Kennedy, Barry Venison, Paul Bracewell, Mick Harford, Chris Waddle and 1920s goalkeeper Albert McInroy - Paul Dobson seeks the identity of the ex-Sunderland apprentice who appears on the sleeve of the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP by the Beatles.

The band show resumes next Tuesday