Darren Biggs did his best to upstage champion elect Kieren Fallon at Leicester yesterday. Biggs rode his first double in more than a year on Blowing Away and Nichol Fifty and in the process thwarted a potential four-timer for Fallon who, with two successes already on the board, rode the runner-up in both contests.

Blowing Away who mastered Saratoga Red by three-quarters of a length in the Manny Bernstein 20th Anniversary Claiming Stakes, and Nichol Fifty who beat Tarxien by one and a half lengths in the Manny Bernstein Credit Division Limited Stakes, struck at combined odds of 59 to 1 for trainer Mark Tompkins who is enjoying an end-of-season spurt.

Fallon continued his march towards the jockeys championship and the quest to become a member of the Elite 200 club when landing both divisions of the Manny Bernstein Trade Division Maiden Stakes for his boss Henry Cecil on Baffin Bay and Himself.

The brace took Fallon's score for the year to 196, but the Irishman still needs another 10 winners if he is to reach the double century during the confines of the championship which runs until the end of the turf season on November 8th.

Fallon cannot, however, expect much more ammunition from Cecil who said: "I have just a few more to run this week and then that will be it then I might go on a little holiday."

David Nicholson choked back tears of emotion at Cheltenham when Nishamira easily took the Frenchie Nicholson Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle named in honour of his late father.

The victory proved even more poignant for Nicholson as his mother Diana is seriously ill at present in Cheltenham General Hospital.

Ridden by Robert Thornton, Nishamira cruised away from Skram up the stamina-sapping hill to take the spoils by a very comfortable four lengths. Nicholson went on to notch a double after Circus Star had little difficulty in landing the Racing Channel Maiden Hurdle from I Recall on the bridle under Adrian Maguire.

"He will now run in all the top novice hurdles this season and as that was just what he wanted and his long term target will be the Citroen Supreme Novices' Hurdle back here in March," reported the trainer.

Circus Star is owned by the six-strong Ringmasters Syndicate which includes such as Jackdaws Castle stalwarts as Michael Deeley of Another Coral and Waterloo Boy fame and James Potter, who has a number of horses with Nicholson.

Nicholson's arch rival Martin Pipe was also at the double following wins for hurdles debutant Irsal and James Pigg, who was having his first run for the champion trainer since recently rejoining his yard.

Irsal, a very useful performer on the flat, skipped away with the Timeform Juvenile Novices' Hurdle in the hands of Tony McCoy eventually beating Southern Chief by three and a half lengths.

James Pigg gave former 19-year-old Irish amateur Gordon Elliott his first winner in Britain since joining Pipe over the summer when easily accounting for Paper Star by 19 lengths in the Enigma Nightclub Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase.