Flame set for Newmarket test

Ed McMahon is resigned to dropping Pivotal Flame back to six furlongs for the first time this term in a bid for his smart but luckless colt to open his account for the season.

The Staffordshire trainer will saddle the three-year-old in the Listed Countrywide Steel & Tubes Hopeful Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, where he looks like taking on Wokingham winner Iffraaj.