Rakti, winner of the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, can follow-up in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown tomorrow and set himself up for a £1m bonus, which will be decided at York next month.

The Michael Jarvis-trained colt is firmly on the trail of the BHB's Summer Triple Crown and, with the first leg in the bag, victory tomorrow will put him on the threshold of millionaire status come York's August Festival when the Juddmonte International comprises the final leg of his eagerly-sought treble.

A brilliant winner at Royal Ascot, Rakti is set to start a short-priced favourite tomorrow, when he will have the added advantage of front-running stablemate Maktub making the running for him.

With Philip Robinson again in the saddle, Rakti will be opposed by the likes of Refuse To Bend, Warrsan and Kalaman, but the evidence of his latest peformance suggests he will very hard to beat in what promises to be a cracking race for this £375,000 Group 1 prize.

The Tatling, who provided veteran trainer Milton Bradley with a golden moment when winning the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot - not bad going for a horse he got out of a modest claiming race at Catterick - turns out again in the Champagne Laurent-Perrier Sprint and looks sure to take plenty of beating.

The seven-year-old came from a long way back on his latest start and tomorrow's similarly stiff course is in his favour to do likewise. Darryll Holland again takes the mount.

The £100,000 totescoop6 Handicap over a mile offers James Bethell's Mine the chance to supplement his latest victory, in the Royal Hunt Cup. It is a tough ask for the Middleham raider, however, under 9st 10lb, and I prefer the progressive Tahreeb, who is also chasing a hat-trick of wins.

At Beverley, the £20,000 Mondi Hypac Handicap takes pride of place over five furlongs. Ryedale trainer John Wainwright's Catch The Cat, a course winner who was not seen to best effect at York last month, is fancied to do the business under Gyles Parkin.

Also worth noting at Beverley are recent course winner Three Pennies (1.45) and the fast-improving Swainsworld (2.50). The latter, trained by Tim Easterby, broke his maiden tag on this course recently and looks capable of further improvement in his first handicap. He gets my Nap vote.

The Lancashire Oaks and the Old Newton Cup are the highlights at Haydock. Sahool, who made Punctilious pull out all the stops in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, gets the vote in the former, while Alkaased is fancied to lift the cup and provide Jimmy Fortune with a welcome big-race success.

Fortune only recently returned to action after 10 months off course because of a serious back problem. Alkaased has a recent solid comeback effort at Newmarket under his belt.

Saturday's tips:

Sandown

1.35 The Tatling, 2.05 Royal Rebel, 2.40 Tahreeb, 3.15 Rakti, 3.50 Moon Dazzle, 4.20 Silk Fan, 4.55 Breathing Sun.

Beverley

1.45 Three Pennies, 2.15 Riverweld, 2.50 Swainsworld (Nap), 3.25 Dance Light, 3.55 Catch The Cat, 4.30 Santiburi Lad, 5.00 Royal Challenge, 5.30 Chimali.

Haydock

TV races: 1.50 Sahool, 2.55 Alkaased.

Tomorrow's other meetings are at Carlisle (evening, Flat), Leicester (afternoon, Flat) and Nottingham (evening Flat).

Updated: 12:05 Friday, July 02, 2004