OSCAR SCHINDLER nay have missed out on the major awards last season but he has high hopes of seizing top honours this year after a polished performance in the Ormonde Stakes at Chester yesterday.

Unlucky in the Irish Derby and an absentee through injury from the St Leger, the strapping colt at last had a change of fortune as he swept to victory in the Group Three contest.

Travelling well all the way for Michael Kinane, Oscar Schindler quickened well in the home straight to defeat Election Day by one and a half lengths with the St Leger runner up, Minds Music, in third.

It was a sweet success for long serving Irish trainer Kevin Prendergast who won a maiden with Hul A Hul in 1964 on his first visit to the Roodeye. "This horse was unlucky when he finished fourth in the Irish Derby he just didn't get a run when he should have done," he said.

"Unfortunately he was lame and not able to run in the St Leger but the winner Classic Cliche finished behind us in the Irish Derby and we felt a bit sad that we weren't able to run him."

Prendergast is now looking at all the big middle distance races with the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot pencilled in as Oscar Schindlers' next assignment. The Prix de I'Arc de Triomphe is also on the agenda.

"This horse has got an awful lot of ability. He has a high cruising speed and I thought the track might suit him today," he said. "We'll be looking at all the big races for him now and at least we can pay for the entry fees with the prize money from this race."

Prize Giving stepped out on the Pentire path to greatness to capture a third Dee Stakes victory in four years for Geoff Wragg and Michael Hills. Graduating from an easy handicap win at Newmarket last month, he ran on too strongly for Desert Boy with Derby entrants Babinda, Bonarelli and Tawkil fourth, fifth and sixth.

In true Wragg style Prize Giving was taken out of the Derby, like Beneficial and Pentire before him, but as both colts proved, that should not hinder his development.

"He's as good as those, two were at the same stage, said Hills. "He has a high head carriage and doesn't look like he is in love with the game but he gives everything and like the others he could do anything."

Pentire, who returns in the Eclipse Stakes, became one of the top performers of 1995 after his Dee Stakes win.

His victories included the King Edward VII Stakes and the Group One Irish Champion Stakes. He also finished second in the King George and this year ran fourth in the Dubai World Cup.

Prize Giving could follow a similar campaign with Wragg ready to run him again at Goodwood in under a fortnight.

"He didn't like going round these bends. He was stopping and starting with Michael," said Wragg. "But he's a nice horse who will win lots of races but is not a classic horse.

"He will get a mile and a half and could go for the King Edward

VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, unless we do a Pentire and take in the Predominate on the way.

Wragg's experience with Pent ire has helped prompt the Epsom executive to review Derby entry conditions. It has proposed a "wild card" system designed to provide a late developer with another chance to get in the race.

But Wragg is against it. "That's bloody ridiculous. There could be three or four capable of getting the wild card then who would you pick? All they need is a supplementary entry 10 days before for £40-50,000," he added.

"The problem is the actual conditions of the race are not regulated by the BHB, but it should be general policy for Group One races."