TINA Jackson, who trains near Saltburn, had the biggest winner of her training career when Boris The Blade was successful in the Tim Molony Handicap Chase at Haydock last Saturday.

The eight-year-old grey was given a strong ride by Richie Mc- Grath to land the valuable prize, and could well target the Eider Chase at Newcastle next month.

Howard Johnson kick-started the new week in great style with a treble at Newcastle on Monday, and two other inmates finished runner-up as well. The only downside for the yard was stable jockey Denis O’Regan not being able to take the rides due to a fall the day before at Leopardstown, leaving the Irishman with a broken left collarbone for the second time this season.

O’Regan’s misfortune was Paul Carberry’s gain as he partnered all three winners for Johnson, starting off with Stormy Weather in the opening juvenile hurdle.

The winner had been runner-up on his first two starts at Aintree and Catterick, but won here with great ease and this one-time useful Flat performer can go on to better things later in the season.

The class act on the day came in the second race, when the Johnson-trained Door Boy made it two from two in the novice chase. The talented chaser is now around 33-1 for the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, which looks good value. Blacks Bridge completed the hat-trick for Johnson in the 2½mi handicap chase.

On Tuesday, at Sedgefield, Gold Cup trainer Peter Beaumont saddled his final runner after a long and honourable career.

However, there was no fairytale story as Fencote Mystery finished a well-beaten sixth, behind the Ferdy Murphy-trained Desperate Dex.

Beaumont, who trained at Brandsby since 1968, landed a string of big race successes, most notably with Gold Cup hero Jodami in 1993.

On Wednesday there was a seven-race card up at Musselburgh, and Keith Reveley was quickly off the mark in the second race with Karingreason, who was steered to victory by the trainer’s son James.

One hour later, Howard Johnson unleashed a potential superstar in Ascendant, who made a very impressive debut in the 2mi novice hurdle. The four-year-old was a very useful Flat horse when trained by Sir Mark Prescott, who was also instrumental in the early days of Inglis Drever, Johnson’s star horse a few seasons ago.

Ascendant has big shoes to fill, but could be part way to filling them on the evidence of this performance.

Flat trainer Dandy Nicholls is enjoying his raid on France, and Bonnie Prince Blue made it win number three for the Thirsk trainer when winning at Cagnessur- Mer on Tuesday. Nicholls took half a dozen horses over for a trial experiment and, looking at the results, he could well be making it a yearly trip.

A little closer to home, Il Forno also scored for the Nicholls yard at Lingfield on Tuesday, while Middleham trainer John Weymes had another winner on the allweather with Madison Belle at Southwell on Tuesday. Mark Johnston kept up his fine run with a treble at Kempton on Wednesday. This time it was Cairnsmore, Love Delta and Greyfriarschorista who came home in front under Greg Fairley.

Doncaster stages a two-day fixture, starting this afternoon at 1.20pm. There is an interesting handicap chase at 2.30pm today, and Howard Johnson looks to have another chance of a winner with Presenting Forever, who was successful at Sedgefield last time out.

The six-year-old was held in very high regard in Ireland and that was reflected in his sale price of £370,000 in May 2008, making him the most expensive point to point horse to go through a public sale. Paul Carberry takes the ride, and let’s hope he can start earning some of his corn by winning today.

Saturday’s feature race is the Sky Bet Handicap Chase, due off at 3.25pm, and 22 face the starter in what looks to be a cracking contest. The interesting runner for me is Seven Is My Number, trained by David Pipe. The eight-year-old is looking for a hat-trick of wins and should go close under Timmy Murphy, who has ridden him to victory many times in the past.