BROUGHTON'S PRIDE should take advantage of the handicapper's generosity at Southwell today. The six-year-old has been handed an outstanding chance in division one of the Tipperary Apprentices' Handicap.

She has only 8st 6lb to carry in this one-mile contest, which equates to an official rating of only 36, the mark of a poor plater. Yet the mare was beaten only a short-head when racing off 47 at Musselburgh on her most recent appearance and is potentially thrown in at these weights.

The handicapper has clearly taken the view that she does not act on an all-weather surface, a conclusion based solely on her two modest efforts in 1994. But he appears to have overlooked the fact that both those races were over much too long a trip

Shrewd trainer Les Eyre would not be running the mare at Southwell were he not convinced that she handles Fibresand. It is almost certain that Broughton's Pride will be able to run to her best on the surface now that she has been returned to a more suitable distance. A reproduction of any of a string of good efforts on turf last year, notably a win at Nottingham and fine placed runs on her last two starts, will make her very hard to beat.