Murtagh boosts title chances with double

Pat Smullen has a lead of six winners in the jockeys' championship but he can be forgiven for looking over his shoulder, for John Murtagh and Michael Kinane showed at Listowel yesterday that they are lining him up in their sights.

Kinane reached the 59 winner mark by scoring on Turtleback in the first, but Murtagh trumped him with a double that put him in second place in the table on 60.

Murtagh can rarely have ridden an easier double either, for the well-backed Saratan treated his rivals to 11 lengths worth of contempt in the mile maiden and Back To Bolgers went a length further clear in the two-mile handicap.

Saratan could have one more run before heading for Newmarket's Autumn sales, but before that his trainer John Oxx and Murtagh have a certain weekend date at Longchamp.

Oxx reported Sinndar on target for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and added: "As well as Sinndar, we have Namid for the Prix de l'Abbaye, and depending on the ground, Enzeli will run on the Prix du Cadran."

For the second day running, Christy Roche, JP McManus and the promising amateur Alan Crowe combined to win the big pot of the day, and High Stakes didn't give his supporters a moments anxiety in winning the Lartigue Hurdle by 10 lengths.

It was Crowe's third win over flights, his sixth in all, and High Stakes at least picked off the pace-forcing favourite Theseus with merciful speed after the second-last flight.

Punters did get it right in the first division of the maiden hurdle, as Fearsome Factor was an extremely efficient winner; but the favourite in the second division, Man Of Leisure, was run out of the lead in the last strides by the Shay Barry-ridden outsider Ollar Rose.

Giant's Causeway is the 7-4 favourite with online bookmakers Blue Square to record his sixth consecutive Group One victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. Next in the betting are Best Of The Bests, Medicean and Indian Lodge all on 5-1.

The Listowel executive's pressure on the fixtures panel to have next year's September festival extended to seven days got a mild boost from yesterday's upturn in the tote betting statistics. The toe figure of £259,776 compared to £207,426 last year. But for the second day running the bookmaker turnover was down with a total of £852,268 comparing to last year's £865,618.