APART from the odd winner here and there, very little has gone right for Malton trainer John Quinn over the past few weeks.

In the main it's been a case of sheer bad luck that has kept John out of the limelight, but you can't keep a good man down for long, so it could be worth risking a few bob on Wolverhampton-bound Caraman in the mile-and-six-furlong Handicap.

The last time Caraman (4.20) visited the track punters got stuck in and made the dual-purpose nine-year-old a 9-2 joint-favourite, a position at the head of the market he sadly failed to justify when trailing home in sixth spot.

One bad day at the office doesn't necessarily mean all is doom and gloom, especially in the case of thoroughbreds, who with the best will in the world are notoriously fickle creatures.

Perhaps Caraman simply wasn't in the mood, in which case judging by his much-improved hurdles form this winter, he could easily bounce back to drub a bunch of mainly exposed rivals in the £5,000 contest.

My pride is still smarting from the turbo-charged late flourish produced by Cool Sands (4.50) when he cut down the 12-1 nap selection, Effective, in the dying strides of a Southwell sprint a couple of weeks ago.

I take this job seriously and Effective would have been a lucrative winner for the column, but we live to fight on and using that performance as a yardstick, Cool Sands is strongly fancied to take the seven-furlong Handicap.

With soggy Lingfield needing to pass a 7.30am inspection, Ludlow is the only jumps fixture certain to get the go-ahead.

The Seven Handicap Hurdle is top-of-the-bill in terms of quality, with Ouninpohja (4.00) heading the ratings for the valuable two-miler.

Formerly in the care of Alan Swinbank just down the road from Darlington at Melsonby, Ouninpohja is now with Paul Nicholls, who seems certain to land this season's National Hunt trainer's championship for the second year in succession.

Nicholls' new recruit has made a decent enough start to his hurdling career and, bearing in mind he's likely to show up at either the Cheltenham or Aintree Festival, might easily have the class to defy top-weight.

The Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Chase offers an ideal opportunity for Fight The Feeling (3.30) to add to his January course victory, a race in which he came from another county to snatch first prize in a thrilling and dramatic finale.

* Nevada Red and Top Cloud landed a sparkling 9-1 nap and next best double for Janus (Colin Woods) at Sedgefield yesterday.