"PROMISING start - can do better," was the report on Evening Press after she made her eagerly-awaited racecourse debut at Newcastle yesterday.

The two-year-old filly, owned by readers of the Evening Press, predictably started one of the rank outsiders at 50-1 in the Racecourse Video Services Maiden over six furlongs and finished unplaced.

But that tells only half the story.

Having lost all of five lengths with a typical novice start leaving the stalls, she was soon trailing in the wake of all of her 15 rivals.

But jockey Paul Fessey never gave up and, from two furlongs out, he began to pass some of his rivals with the result that Evening Press crossed the line in a respectable ninth place.

"It took her two-and-a-half furlongs to cotton-on what was required, but then she got down and did some good work.

"I think she's going to be okay," said an optimistic Fessey afterwards.

Norton trainer Tim Etherington was suitably pleased with the opening display.

"I was chuffed with her, to be honest," he said.

"She's always been a slow learner - she'd have been a class 'C' pupil at school - and it didn't really surprise me that she lost ground at the start, which is simply down to 'greenness' - inexperience.

"It was the way she started to get herself organised in the last couple of furlongs that pleased me.

"Everything that happened on the day - walking around the paddock, hearing the loudspeakers, cantering down to the start, and then racing - was all new to her.

"It was like her first day at school, and she'll be that bit wiser next time she goes."

Although there was no fairytale start to the career of Evening Press, some of her owners thoroughly enjoyed the day, among them Ken Rushforth, head-gardener at York Minster, and Jenny Barker, who works for the Evening Press.

Both were thrilled at the new experience of being owners of a racehorse, as was Ian Smith, another York-based enthusiast, who manages the B&Q branch at Stockton.

Smith had previously thoroughly enjoyed his trips to Etherington's yard to see Evening Press, along with his two daughters, Robynne, aged ten, and four-year-old Alyssa.

But being at the races to watch her in action even surpassed that experience.

"To be a part-owner of a racehorse has always been an ambition of mine and it's thanks to the Evening Press that that has become possible," he said.

"It's been a great day."

Updated: 11:43 Tuesday, September 11, 2001