Racing Jockeys' championship: Frankie Dettori strengthened an already vice-like grip on the British jockeys' championship with two more winners at Lingfield Park yesterday to go 16 clear of absent rival Kieren Fallon.

With the champion giving up his rides to wait for a Friday return after a bad fall on Monday, Dettori snapped up the opportunity to extend his lead. It is looking like a one-horse title race now as the Italian continues his quest for a third crown.

Yesterday's winners, which made the score 184-168, came on Godolphin's Happy As Larry and the Jeremy Noseda-trained Emerald Lodge.

Dettori was ecstatic as he came back to dismount from the latter, who was sent off the 11 to 8 favourite for the Bet Direct First Five At Newmarket Conditions Stakes. "I love my job," he said after dictating matters from the front to beat Middle Earth by a length and a quarter.

This followed his success in the first division of the Maiden Stakes on the 5 to 1 shot Happy As Larry. The debutant hit the front a furlong and a half from home and zipped clear to win by two and a half lengths from Karen's Caper, with the favourite King's Kama a half-length further back in third.

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Omaha City (5 to 1) just can't stop winning and he did it again in the Bet Direct On Super League Grand Final Handicap, finishing strongly with Frannie Norton on board to beat Analyze by three parts of a length. Dettori's mount Concer Eto, the favourite, could only manage third.