GREY horses are something of a rarity these days so when one comes along promising great things the racing public tends to become emotionally involved with their every move.

Desert Orchid and One Man immediately spring to mind and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the similarly coloured Grattan Lodge (Newcastle, 1.50) could one day be mentioned in the same breath as those two great bygone stars of the National Hunt arena.

Unbeaten in his last five starts, Grattan Lodge is by common consensus one of the brightest young staying chasers currently being nurtured in our region.

"He's got the potential to win a big race one day," reported his regular jockey Graham Lee to trainer Howard Johnson after stylishly opening his account over fences at Sedgefield in January.

Prior to that impressive success, Grattan Lodge had reeled off an impressive four-timer over hurdles. However such is the size and scope of the seven-year-old he always looked like a fledgling chaser in the making.

For his second start over the bigger obstacles, Johnson has entered Grattan Lodge in this afternoon's Chisholm Bookmakers Alnwick Novices' Chase at Newcastle, a two-and-half-mile contest which should provide the selection with another stepping stone towards greater glory.

Gaucho, an unconsidered 50-1 outsider, belied those odds when runner-up to Eastern Tribute over course and distance a fortnight ago, and has since occupied the same position at Wetherby.

Clearly at home in the glue-pot conditions, Gaucho (2.50) jumps like a buck for the underrated amateur rider, Tina Jackson. She also trains the seven-year-old, who, aided and abetted by the anticipated soggy surface, might defy top-weight in the Blyth Novices' Handicap Chase.

The prodigious amount of rain which has fallen over the past week will also be right up Mr Christie's street in the three-mile Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle. If you are persuaded to have a dip on Mr Christie (3.20) don't expect to see him up with the pace early doors, in fact it is quite likely that he well be tailed off at the halfway point.

But even if the situation appears hopeless, don't despair - Mr Christie has the habit of getting himself so far behind his backers have torn up their tickets, only for Lynn Siddall's enigmatic gelding to come with a wet sail and snatch the spoils in the dying strides.

Tom George launches a long-distance raid from his Gloucestershire base to the North-East with Toulouse-Lautrec (4.20) for the closing Scarborough Handicap Chase.

Jason Maguire's mount ran a stormer to fill second spot behind Ballybrophy at Chepstow recently, a reproduction of which should set him on the road to a possible tilt for one of Cheltenham's long distance handicaps at next month's festival.

Following the abandonment of Leicester, the only other surviving fixture is at Lingfield where Down To The Woods (1.10) is fancied to make a winning return after a 129-day absence.