Colin Tizzard has started 2008 in the same rich vein of form he ended last year and Ironside netted another valuable prize for his West Country stable in the £25,000 skybet.com Sussex National at Plumpton.

THOSE who doubted Marseillais’ resolution paid a hefty price when he ran away with the second section of the December 26-29 Christmas Racing Maiden Hurdle at Limerick yesterday.

JIMMY MANGAN, who trained Stroll Home to win the Galway Plate in 1997, is hot on the trail of that great prize again.

ANTE-POST activity on the Vodafone Derby hotted up with Visindar cementing his claims with an emphatic victory in the Group Two Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud while some bookmakers have removed Hala Bek and Sir Percy from their lists.