Pennekamp is the talk of the Djebel 2/48pt in yes

RACING: Opinions are at odds over the merit of the victory on Saturday by the main challenger to Celtic Swing's Guineas favouritism

It can be maddeningly difficult to work out how good a horse is before a race. Sometimes it is not much easier to fathom it afterwards. An example of this second phenomenon came on Saturday when Pennekamp, the colt Andr Fabre trains for Sheikh Mohammed, won the Prix Djebel at Evry.

Channel 4, who brought news of the Parisian race to television viewers, knew the worth of this Classic trial. The Prix Djebel, after all, was the event which two years ago provided Zafonic with his final step on the path to glory at Newmarket; at the weekend it was the target for another Fabre horse, perhaps the only credible alternative to Celtic Swing for the Guineas.

But while the television team was fully aware of the significance of the race, the significance of its winning had them in disharmony.

John McCririck, summoning all the gravitas his character will allow, spoke as if he was at the graveside, his words wreathed with disappointment as he told of a scrambling victory on the Continent.

The microphone then passed to a far chirpier Simon Holt, who ran through the result before telling of a swooping performance in execution and style as effective as an osprey breaking through the top of a lake to claw a salmon. Derek Thompson was left to knit these disparate views together. "So, as we see," he told the camera, "conflicting reports from France."

If, however, this was an absurd juxtaposition of race analysis, Channel 4 will always have the justification that they were no more confused than others who had a lot longer to digest the Prix Djebel.

The "Big Three" bookmakers remained strangely divided about the race yesterday. William Hill kept Pennekamp at 4-1 for the Guineas, Coral pulled him in for both that Classic and the Derby, while Ladbrokes knocked the colt out to 5-1, from 4-1, for Newmarket. By the simple expedients of a single £3,000 win bet and the fact that he survived another day, Celtic Swing became a 5-4 favourite, from 6-4, with the last-named firm.

If a definitive opinion was needed on this display, it was not forthcoming from Anthony Stroud, Sheikh Mohammed's racing manager, who delivered thoughts that might well have been scribbled in a taxi on the way to the track. "I was pleased with that, considering the distance was too short," he said. "Pennekamp did his job well and it's Newmarket next."

There is unlikely to be such an absence of accord after the main trial during this week, Thursday's Craven Stakes at Newmarket. A much-respected test, the Craven appears to have less authority this year, with a maximum field of eight, led, price-wise, by the 12-1 fourth favourite for the Guineas, Chilly Billy.

There is some interest, though, provided by Nwaamis, a colt who lives so close to Celtic Swing in West Sussex that they could go to the same school.

"Nwaamis is fine but he's had only one race and we don't know what he beat," Marcus Hosgood, racing secretary to the colt's trainer, John Dunlop, said yesterday. "We'll have to wait to see how good he is."

An idiosyncrasy of the race is that there will be only one Newmarket- based runner, and that from Jack Banks's small yard on the Hamilton Road.

This irregularity was not lost on the trainer himself. "I can't believe it," Banks, who will send out Traikey, said. "John Gosden has got 200 horses and he can't even find one for the race."

There are many races left for Norman Williamson, the National Hunt jockey whose double at Newton Abbot on Saturday persuaded him that he might yet win the riders' championship. This morning he stands on 111, 18 adrift of the current leader, Adrian Maguire.

"I've got to give the title a go and I'll be going flat out for the next month, riding everywhere I possibly can," the Irishman said. "I'll see what the situation is then and if I'm in striking distance I'll fight until the end of the season.

"Whatever the outcome, it's unbelievable to be in with a squeak, especially as I've had such a cracking season winning the big races at Cheltenham."

Last month's Festival provided general acknowledgement of Williamson's abilities. For Pennekamp, such wide acclamation has yet to arrive.