All-weather racing saved the sport from a blank Saturday in Britain and it continues to treat trainer Richard Guest well as his expanding operation harvested another two winners at Lingfield.
Former Grand National-winning jump jockey Guest divides his string of around 100 horses between a satellite yard in Bawtry and his main centre at Stainforth and has been turning over nicely this year, with six wins in January and now four in February after the efforts of Cut The Cackle and Crocodile Bay.
As chilly as Surrey felt, Stephen Arnold, who is a major owner of Guest's under the banner of rakebackmypoker.com, was warmed up by a first and third in division one of the Blue Square Sprint Series Round 5 Handicap.
Arnold's Waabel took the initiative, but 3-1 favourite Cut The Cackle put him in his place with a scything run around the outside. William Carson and the mare owed connections a good turn as she looked an unlucky loser on her latest run at Kempton when the blindfold came off late and she did not get a clear run.
Arnold said: "She's got it back today. Waabel's already qualified for the final here on February 25 and Cut The Cackle will hopefully run in a 0-70 in a later round and pick up enough points to sneak into the final too."
Charles Eddery, another member of the family riding dynasty, helped Guest's Crocodile Bay (13-2) bounce back from a moderate effort at Southwell in midweek to make it two course and distance victories in less than a fortnight in the Bet On Today's Football At bluesq.com Apprentice Handicap.
The final is the acknowledged target for Jimmy Fox's The Wee Chief (7-1), who returned from an absence of 226 days in division two of the Blue Square series.
While the majority tracked wide around the bend and got involved in trouble, Kieran O'Neill was the only jockey to go against the grain and The Wee Chief scooted up the far rail to finish half a length in front of Picansort.
Owner Rick Kavanagh said: "He had a wind operation as someone looked at him and said he was choking - even though he still managed to win two races. This was a big fact-finding mission, but if he won today we planned to run in the 0-70 here in a fortnight and hopefully get qualified for the final."
Joe Fanning and David Barron's Amitola (9-1) had it all their own way out in front to make every post a winning one in the Bet At Blue Square Handicap, while Gay Kelleway's Layline (9-2) was in a class of his own in the Blue Square Bet Handicap under Shane Kelly.
