The Caped Crusader, an unlucky loser at Ripon on his latest start, can gain compensation for North Yorkshire owner David Silversides at Doncaster tomorrow evening.

Trained at Norton by Ollie Pears, The Caped Crusader, who changed hands as a yearling for 100,000 euros, has proved a bargain buy for Silversides, who paid only £2,200 for him at Doncaster in January of last year after he had achieved little as a juvenile. He won two races last season for Silversides and promises to win plenty more.

His latest defeat, by a nose from Fossgate, was an unfortunate one, his jockey having run into a pocket on him before having to switch him. Alas, although he finished strongly, the post came a stride too soon and he was beaten a nose.

Barry McHugh, who knows him so well, is back on board tomorrow and The Caped Crusader is napped to open his winning account.

Alive And Kicking (7.35) has shown enough in three races this season for Middleham trainer James Bethell to suggest he can finally get his head in front, while also worthy of attention is Submission (8.10), a Nottingham winner last time out for Luca Cumani and a horse open to further improvement. Kieren Fallon again has the mount.

It’s the first day of the Newmarket July meeting and North Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnston bids for the opening day highlight, the £80,000 Princess of Wales’s Stakes with Dordogne, the mount of Silvestre de Sousa.

Dordogne is the winner of two of his three races this season, most notably the Lingfield Derby Trial in May, where he showed plenty of guts to hold off stablemate Hurricane Higgins.

He has not been out since, which is a slight concern, but it is surely a positive sign that he is running in this Group 2 contest, instead of tackling a slightly less taxing Group 3 race earlier on the card.

Although the Middleham colt looks up against it, he is plainly a progressive performer and, with the three-year-old allowance against older horses, he is expected to run a big race.

Solar Sky can win the opening Bahrain Trophy, the race Dordogne ducked to go for the feature event.

A Haydock maiden winner, Sir Henry Cecil’s colt went down by only a neck to Namibian in the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot. He looks to be going the right way.

In the TNT July Stakes, Roman Soldier should be hard to beat.

Jeremy Noseda’s useful juvenile beat all except neck winner Power in the fiercely competitive Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He looks likely to go one better in this Group 2 affair, but he faces stiff competition from Frederick Engels, winner of the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and Kevin Ryan’s Church Music, who was so impressive when breaking his maiden on his debut at York last month.

Sir Michael Stoute’s progressive Labarinto (2.25) can make it third time lucky after two good efforts this season in defeat, while Richard Fahey’s Jamesway (4.40) also makes appeal.

He has run some fine races in tough handicaps this season and looked unlucky not to have finished a good deal closer on his latest outing in the Gosforth Park Cup.

Racing selections

Newmarket

1.20 Solar Sky, 1.50 Roman Soldier, 2.25 Labarinto, 3.00 Dordogne, 3.35 Burwaaz, 4.05 Fury, 4.40 Jamesway.

Doncaster

6.30 Spiders Star, 7.00 Al Khan, 7.35 Alive And Kicking, 8.10 Submission, 8.45 The Caped Crusader (NAP), 9.15 Crimson Cloud.

Tomorrow’s other meetings

Epsom, Folkestone and Warwick.

Today’s meetings

Bath, Catterick, Kempton, Lingfield and Worcester.