RICHARD Guest is even more convinced than ever that the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival is on the cards after Our Armageddon landed the One Man Novices' Chase at Wetherby in such fine style.

This young New Zealand-bred has now taken four out of five starts over fences and Guest said: "In the Arkle you have to have a horse who jumps cleanly and can go a good gallop, and this horse jumps really well and can blitz from the off."

The winner is, of course, one of our Fifteen to Follow this term and beat another from the list in the shape of Tim Easterby's Silver Knight. Larry McGrath had the ride on Guest's runner and had earlier given him the first leg of a double as Moscow Leader followed up his Kelso win by beating Ferdy Murphy's Paphian Bay.

Howard Johnson's one from our 15, Covent Garden, was in action at Sandown, third in the willliamhillpoker.com Handicap Hurdle, beaten a head and the same. But Johnson had enjoyed a sparkling day on Friday at the Esher track with a double, both partnered by Graham Lee.

All the big money spent by millionaire and computer king Graham Wylie is paying off. He gave 110,000gns for Inglis Drever, formerly with Sir Mark Prescott, and enjoyed watching his purchase land the William Hill Winter Novices' Hurdle, a first Grade Two win for Wylie.

Johnson said that Inglis Drever was more an Aintree horse than a Cheltenham type. "I've got a lot of cows to calve before Cheltenham," the farmer-trainer added. He said the owner would leave race choices to him, concentrating on visiting his horses. "As long as he can come up with three pounds of carrots (for them) every fortnight, he's happy."

Lee also rode Scotmail Boyu to win the staying handicap chase for owner George Tobitt, one of the yard's long-standing patrons.

Last week it was rumoured that Mary Reveley would retire when she hit the 2,000 career winners mark, but she scotched those thoughts after a Sandown-Wetherby double on Saturday. The Lingdale trainer, however, missed both meetings as she was unwell.

Overstrand landed the Listed William Hill Handicap Hurdle at the southern meeting, Ruby Walsh partnering the northern raider to a fourth successive win. Keith Sobey, managing director of Centaur Racing which runs the partnership owning the winner, FF Racing Partnership IV, said the winner may now go for the Ladbrokes Hurdle at Ascot a week tomorrow.

This was confirmed by Mrs Reveley later in the week, who said the horse had come out of his race well "and we have had this race in mind for a while." Overstrand is currently ante-post favourite for the £100,000 event, at 6-1 with the sponsors.

His previous wins were all under amateur Owyn Nelmes, who gained consolation for not partnering the Surrey win when landing the two-mile handicap hurdle on course specialist Konker at Wetherby. And as to retirement, Mrs Reveley suggested she would wait until the summer, when her son Keith had finished his necessary courses.

Vinnie Keane rode out his claim (his right to a weight allowance) at the Yorkshire course when winning on Great As Gold for Brian Ellison, a third hurdles success for the four-year-old. Later this week, the Ellison-Keane team won at Leicester, giving Shayadi an easy race in a selling hurdle (no bid after).

Peter Beaumont was also on the Wetherby scoresheet, with Hunters Tweed. Earlier in the week, Fred Kirby and Micky Hammond both won at Southwell.

On the all-weather, wins have come at Lingfield for Michael Dods and, on Wednesday, for Alan Swinbank, a first there for the Melsonby man. David Chapman won on Wolverhampton's Saturday night card. Karl Burke had a Southwell double midweek, where Nigel Tinkler also added success.

Biggest one to watch this weekend is Andy Crook's Ryalux, one of our 15, who is down to run at Haydock tomorrow in the Tommy Whittle. Winner of last year's Scottish National, the Middleham stayer is a leading contender for this season's Grand National. Crook said that Richard McGrath had been to school him and was pleased with the horse.

THE WEEK'S WINNERS

Fifteen To Follow (winners below shown as FtF): Altay, A Piece Of Cake, Covent Garden, Europa, Far Pavilions, Gralmano, Hussard Colonges, Jungle Jinks, Moss Harvey, Our Armageddon, Patriarch Express, Ryalux, Silver Knight, Through The Rye, Truckers Tavern.

Thursday of last week. - No DST area winners.

Fri. - Sandown: Gd 2 nov hdl, Inglis Drever (trained by Howard Johnson, at Crook; owned by Andrea & Graham Wylie), ridden by Graham Lee; hcp chs, Scotmail Boy (Howard Johnson; George Tobitt), Graham Lee.

Southwell (turf): hcp chs, Forest Dante (Fred Kirby, Danby Wiske; Fred Kirby), Kenny Johnson; hcp hdl, Tee-Jay (Micky Hammond, Middleham; T J Equestrian Ltd), Tony Dobbin.

Sat. - Sandown: Listed hcp hdl, Overstrand (Mary Reveley, Lingdale; F F Racing Services Partnership IV), Ruby Walsh.

Wetherby: nov hcp hdl, Moscow Leader (Richard Guest, Brancepeth; Miss P Overy), Larry McGrath (claiming 5lbs allowance); nov hdl, Great As Gold (Brian Ellison, Norton; Keith Middleton), Vinnie Keane (3); hcp chs, Hunters Tweed (Peter Beaumont, Brandsby; Trevor Hemmings), Russ Garritty; nov chs, Our Armageddon (FtF) (Richard Guest; Leslie John Garrett), Larry McGrath (5); hcp hdl, Konker (Mary Reveley; J & M Leisure/Unos Restaurant), Mr Owyn Nelmes (7).

Lingfield AW: 8f, Smith N Allan Oils (Michael Dods, Piercebridge; Smith & Allan Racing), John Egan.

Wolverhampton AW ev: 5f, Paddywack (David Chapman, Stillington; T S Redman), Tony Culhane.

Mon. - No DST area winners.

Tue. - Sedgefield abandoned: frost. Southwell AW: 6f, Chispa (Karl Burke, Wensley; Mrs Elaine M Burke), Darren Williams; 5f, Blue Power (Karl Burke; F Jeffers), Ambrose Reilly (7); 14f, Bid For Fame (Nigel Tinkler, Langton; Elite Racing Club), Paul Mulrennan (5).

Wed. - Leicester: sllg hdl, Shayadi (Brian Ellison; Ashley Carr), Vinnie Keane.

Lingfield AW: 7f, What-A-Dancer (Alan Swinbank, Melsonby; A Barnes), R Winston.