Seb Sanders cut Jamie Spencer's lead in the British jockeys' championship to two with victory on Desperate Dan at Lingfield yesterday. Sanders had to wait until his fifth ride of the day to strike after suffering some surprising reverses.

But the six-year-old came to his rescue in the Buy Tickets Online Handicap. The 3 to 1 shot, trained by Andrew Haynes, made his challenge on the outside and went on to beat Tony The Tap by a length and a quarter. Spencer, who is sitting out the end of a two-day ban today, leads 185 to 183 - with the season ending at Doncaster on Saturday.

Meanwhile, trainer Peter Makin has, as expected, lodged an appeal against the decision of the Newmarket stewards to demote Classic Descent into second place last Friday. The outcome of the appeal which will be heard tomorrow could have a bearing on the fight between Spencer and Sanders for the jockeys' championship.

Sanders partnered Classic Descent, while Spencer was aboard the short-head runner-up Black Rain, who was promoted to first place in division one of the Prestige Vehicles EBF Maiden Stakes on November 2nd.

Sophocles, runner-up to Cork All Star in the Championship Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival, is due to make his hurdling debut at Naas this weekend.

James Leavy's four-year-old, a son of In The Wings, came close to pulling off a huge shock under Pauline Ryan at Prestbury Park.

Leavy has high hopes that he can reach the heights over timber, with the Fishery Lane Hurdle on Saturday a starting point. "I would think that he has improved a good bit over the summer," said Leavy. "I wouldn't run him on tacky ground this season. Genuine good ground is fine for him and so is heavy ground but if it was holding he wouldn't run. I'm hoping Ruby (Walsh) will come to school him on Friday and we will make a decision then whether he runs on Saturday or not."