Hot to Trot: Go all the Way with Whitaker's Resdev

Flat trainer: Hugo Palmer

Wall of Fire was a decisive winner of the Melrose Stakes at York's Ebor Festival last month and improved again to defy a 8 lb hike in the weights in the Mallard Stakes at Doncaster on Friday. He looks another smart prospect for the Hugo Palmer yard and his trainer will be heartened by the terrific form of his string as we enter the final few weeks of the season, with eight winners from his 20 runners in the month of September. Palmer has plenty of entries in the next seven days, including both Ecureuil and We Are Ninety in the John Musker Fillies' Stakes at Yarmouth on Wednesday. We Are Ninety is already a winner at this level and looks the stable's number one candiate, but it could be foolish to dismiss Ecureuil, who showed a fairly useful level of form when making a successful handicap debut at Chelmsford last time and remains open to more improvement after just five starts in her short career to date. Meanwhile, Not Never looked a horse to follow when second in the 2015 renewal of the Melrose at York and will be of interest if taking up an engagement at Newbury on Friday, although he is likely to need the run after 11 months off the track. 

Jumps trainer: Willie Mullins

Willie Mullins is sure to be a mainstay of this feature as the jumps season begins to gather pace and the signs for those hoping to challenge his dominance are already ominous, with the master of Closutton continuing to fire in the winners of late. The mare Airlie Beach maintained her unbeaten record with a most impressive success at Galway last Tuesday and looks destined for better things this winter. The Kerry National at Limerick on Wednesday will be occupying the trainer's thoughts in the interim, though, and Mullins currently has four entered at the five-day stage. Alelchi Inois, Ballycasey, Devils Bride and King's Wharf have all acquitted themselves with credit in some of the summer's biggest handicap chases and it is the former who is the shortest price of the quartet at the time of writing. He produced a career-best when second in the Galway Plate in July and ran to a similar level when an emphatic 32-length winner at the same meeting just four days later. He looks sure to be involved if still in the same form on Wednesday, while Ballycasey also needs to be respected, having belatedly regained the winning thread at Killarney last month.  

Under the radar: Richard Whitaker 

Scarcroft trainer Richard Whitaker could hardly be in better form at present, with four winners from his last eight runners, and will have been particularly satisfied to see stable stalwart Pipers Note resume winning ways at Ripon towards the end of last month. He wasn't disgraced when ninth in the Portland Handicap at Doncaster on Saturday and should continue to give a good account, with the Ayr Gold Cup a possible target on Saturday. Love Island was the second leg of a double for Whitaker on that Ripon card and she remains relatively well-handicapped given how highly-rated she was in the past. She is entered at Pontefract on Thursday and should run well, although it should be noted that she has a particularly good record at Ripon. Finally, The Resdev Way proved better than ever when successful on his most recent outing at Newcastle and could attempt to follow up at Wolverhampton on Monday. The combination of a step up to 1½m and the return to Tapeta seemed to be the making of him last time and he should be competitive granted a similar set of circumstances on Monday, despite a 6 lb hike in the weights.