PROVIDED he is fit enough for his first outing since last November, Distant Music must hold outstanding claims in tomorrow's Earl of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket.

Trainer Barry Hills, who knows a racehorse when he sees one, thought that this horse could be one of the greatest he has trained after a top-class campaign in 1999 and although he has yet to quite scale those heights, it looks highly-interesting that he has been kept in training as a four-year-old.

The winner of the Dewhurst at two, he failed to win his first two races last year but took the Park Stakes at Doncaster before finishing a fine third to Kalanisi and Montjeu in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket in October.

That was a fine effort against older and more-experienced rivals with the Oaks winner Love Divine beaten on merit in fourth and was enough to see him shipped to America to take on the world's best in the Breeders' Cup.

Sadly that experiment failed to work as he could never go the pace dropped back to a mile but connections report that he has done well during the winter and he will surely go on to win good races this year.

He can start with this Group Three prize.

Khalid Abdullah, the owner of Distant Music, can enjoy another success with Clearing in the Victor Chandler European Free Handicap.

The son of Zafonic progressed with every race last season, signing off with an excellent win in the Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury, a contest that often falls to a classy animal.

That win on soft ground showed that testing conditions are no problem to him and trainer John Gosden has a fine record with this sort of animal.

The Federation of Bloodstock Anglia Wood Ditton Stakes is just as important a race as any of the others during the day, despite only £8,000 in added prize-money being on offer.

This contest, run over a mile, is often the starting point for a host of above-average sorts and even those that finish well down the field will be worth following later in the year.

As usual, the market will be your best guide but mention should be made of Wood Dalling, a choicely-bred son of Woodman from the family of Bosra Sham.

Henry Cecil's three-year-olds are reportedly well forward at home and this one will surely be among the favourites.

In the opening Racing Review Magazine Rated Stakes, Smart Ridge is worth consideration.

He has an astute but unfashionable trainer in Sussex-based Julian Poulton and is the sort to go off at a silly price.

A fine fifth in a valuable handicap at Ascot last September where he was giving weight to most of his rivals, this seven-furlong trip is his optimum and he must be fancied to run well.