Mark Johnston has his string in fantastic order and again looks set to hit the bullseye with Shernando at Southwell.

The three-year-old was relatively unfancied for his racecourse introduction at Nottingham and, having raced up with the pace for much of the one-mile journey, he gave best in the final furlong to pass the post in fifth.

There is still plenty of encouragement to be derived from that performance and the fact Shernando still holds an entry in this year's Derby suggests he is held in high regard.

He can only continue to improve as he gains further experience and should be up to winning the Bet In Running – Betdaq Maiden Stakes, with further confidence taken from the fact the trainer had a treble at last week's meeting here.

Buzz Bird hinted her turn was near when narrowly beaten over course and distance last time and can open her account in the Arena Leisure Plc Handicap.

David Barron's youngster showed precious little in four starts as a juvenile, but a five-month break clearly helped as she came back with a fine effort to go down by just a nose.

She is clearly no world beater, as a mark of 46 would testify, but is up to winning a small race and will find few better opportunities than this.

David Pipe's Sarah's Boy barely came off the bridle when scoring over course and distance last week and has the look of a good thing on his quick reappearance in the Membership of Southwell Golf Club Handicap.The five-year-old will presumably be sent jumping at some stage, but connections are clearly intent in making the most of his current mark on the level.

He looked much better than his rating of 45 when scoring by six lengths here on Wednesday and a 6lb penalty should not be enough to stop him following up.