Zonus, narrowly beaten at Chester last time, can bounce back to winning form at Haydock tomorrow and hit the jackpot in the process.

A total of £90,000 is up for grabs in the totesport Silver Bowl Handicap, and, with a field of 20 facing the starter, a very competitive race is assured.

Zonus, trained by Barry Hills, has as good a chance as any, and a better one than most, judged on his latest effort when he failed by only a head to catch Oasis Star after being poorly drawn, a big disadvantage around Chester's tight turns.

Over tomorrow's slightly longer distance, Zonus is fancied to take his revenge on Oasis Star with a pound pull in the weights. I also think he will have the edge over Gatwick, winner of a good handicap at Goodwood earlier in the week.

Raccoon has my Nap vote in Haydock's opening race, the Option Hygiene Handicap over five furlongs.

David Barron's sprinter made his reappearance at Thirsk last Saturday and ran a fine race to finish fourth in a big field, the three horses who finished in front of him, all racing on the opposite side of the course.

A useful prospect in the making, Raccoon deserves the chance to atone for that luckless defeat in this £20,000 contest.

The speedy Boogie Street, highly-rated by his jockey Richard Hughes, can show his rivals a clean pair of heels in the Dave Jones For Mortgages Stakes.

Recent winner Desert Royalty is selected to follow up in the Joan Westbrook Pinnacle Stakes, a race run in memory of the owner, who died a few months ago and who was closely associated with all the Tim Easterby-trained 'Bollin' horses, with her husband, Sir Neil Westbrook.

The feature race at Ascot is the £60,000 totesport Victoria Cup, in which local hope Fantasy Believer is not without a fighting chance.

Trained by the in-form John Quinn, the six-year-old is a previous winner on this course and also over this distance of seven furlongs.

Three unplaced runs this season should not be held too firmly against him.

He should now be cherry-ripe and this smart handicapper has excellent prospects of figuring in the frame.

Iktitaf, who overcame trouble in running to score at Chester last time, is progressing nicely and Wille Supple's mount can oblige again in the First National Handicap.

The speedy Enchanted (2.15) is another one worth noting at Ascot.

At Newmarket, Spliff can confirm his growing talent by winning the £40,000 Coral Sprint Handicap.

A winner at Catterick on his final run last season, Henry Candy's speedster picked-up where he had left off at Salisbury last month.

Open to further improvement, Spliff has a fine chance of winning this wide-open handicap in the hands of Dane O'Neill.

Auditorium, not far behind the best of last season's juveniles, can start his three-year-old campaign on a winning note in the Cheveley Park Stud King Charles ll Stakes. Champion jockey Kieren Fallon has the mount on Sir Michael Stoute's high-class colt.

Saturday's tips:

Haydock

1.30 Raccoon (Nap), 2.00 Boogie Street, 2.30 Zonus, 3.05 Sapphire Dream, 3.35 Desert Royalty, 4.10 Nunki, 4.40 Nakwa.

Ascot

Televised races: 1.45 Iktitaf, 2.15 Enchanted, 2.45 Fantasy Believer.

Newmarket

Televised races: 1.50 Maclean, 2.20 Duke of Venice, 2.50 Auditorium, 3.25 Spliff.

Tomorrow's other meetings are at Ayr, Kempton and Stratford.

Updated: 12:03 Friday, May 21, 2004