PAT EDDERY faces a race against time to be fit for the opening day of Newmarket's Craven meeting tomorrow.
Eddery injured his back leaving the stalls on the Richard Hannon-trained two-year-old Eleventh Duke at Nottingham on Friday but went on to ride Dancing Cavalier to victory for Reg Hollinshead in the concluding race.
The 10-time champion jockey scored aboard 8 to 11 shot Rising of The Moon in Warwick's opener on Saturday but sat out the rest of the afternoon after suffering a recurrence of the problem.
Now Eddery, who has no booked rides at Musselburgh today, is seeking treatment, but his agent Terry Ellis admits he is not confident the Irishman will be fit in time for tomorrow.
"He is not bright at the moment, to be honest," Ellis said yesterday morning.
Eddery, who collected his 10th championship last season, is currently on the 13-winner mark for 1997.
William Hill have clipped Prix Imprudence winner Pas de Reponse from 7 to 1 to 6 to 1 give Criquette Head her fourth victory in the 1000 Guineas on May 4th.
The Danzig filly, winner of the Cheveley Park Stakes at two, enhanced her claims for the first fillies classic with a smooth two-and-a-half-length success in the listed seven-furlong contest at Maisons-Laffitte on Friday.
And after steady support over the weekend, Hill's cut Pas de Reponse's Guineas odds by a point as she bids to add to Head's victories with Ma Biche (1983), Ravinella (1988) and Hatoof (1992).
"Pas de Reponse has matured physically over the winter and although the trial was insignificant from a form point of view it was little more than an exercise canter. She has at least shown her well-being," said the firm's PRO David Hood.
"Obviously Criquette Head has an impressive record in the 1,000 Guineas and punters have latched onto that, along with question marks which have appeared recently over one or two of the home-trained fillies."
William Hill have also shortened the Mark Tompkins-trained Musical Pursuit's odds for the 2,000 Guineas from 14 to 1 to 12 to 1 after workmate Cool Edge's win in the Gladness Stakes at the Curragh.
Tompkins yesterday indicated that the Dewhurst runner-up is likely to go straight for the race without a prior run.
On the drift for the 2,000 Guineas is David Loder's Indiscreet, who makes his reappearance in the NGK Spark Plugs Conditions Stakes at Newmarket tomorrow.
Indiscreet, winner of York's Moorestyle Convivial Maiden Stakes on his only start as a juvenile, has been pushed out to 10 to 1 from 8 to 1 with Ladbrokes.
