BARACOUDA'S dominance of the three-mile hurdling division looks all set to continue this afternoon in the £60,000 Cantor Sport Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot.

Francois Doumen's Gallic star has won the valuable three-mile-and-one-furlong contest for the past two years, as well as picking up numerous other big prizes on both sides of the English Channel, including the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Baracouda simply is the best, and even a tactically inept ride by his regular rider, Thierry Doumen, failed to stop him making it ten-in-a-row when the pair produced an amazing final furlong rally to collar Mr Cool at the course on November 22nd.

Bound to go off at long odds-on, there'll be no value punting-wise in siding with Baracouda, so in search of something more realistic to help pay for the Christmas festivities, Sure Future (1.30) is recommended to come up with the goodies in the PML Handicap Hurdle.

Sure Future gave a sign that he was in the ascendancy by trouncing Josh Gifford's Camdenation by 16 lengths at Folkestone. In order to explain just how good a performance that was, the time before Camdenation had beaten quite a useful type trained by Venetia Williams, while the third-home, Great Crusader, has since also won.

Sure Future might have expected to be raised 10-12lb in the wake of such an impressive victory, however, as the six-year-old has only been put up a mere 8lb, would-be backers must seize the bull by the horns while the going is still good.

Tom George has been successfully shopping for horses over in Poland during the past five years.

The high-class hurdler, Galileo, is by far and away the best George has imported to date, none the less plenty of the lesser lights have been making their presence felt, including Corletto (2.05).

Having won over the smaller obstacles at Hereford and Taunton last term, Corletto has now been switched to fences, prevailing in gutsy fashion at Market Rasen last time out.

He made every yard of the running that day, jumping like a buck throughout and then repelling the persistent late Charlie Mann's La Colina.

Market Rasen to Ascot represents a significant move up in grade for Corletto, although along with the rest of the horses in the stable, his current well-being seems to suggest the £10,000 Novices' Handicap Chase remains within his compass.

George has an excellent opportunity to initiate an across-the-card double courtesy of Toulouse-Lautrec (12.45) in the BBC Radio Stoke Handicap Chase at Uttoxeter.

Already the winner of a similar contest at the course last month, Toulouse-Lautrec made further progress when finishing third in a far stronger race during the course of last Saturday's Tripleprint meeting at Cheltenham.

Finally there's a couple of potential money-making chances at Wolverhampton in the shape of Cake It Easy (1.10) and Scent Of Victory (2.15).

Cake It Easy is gradually getting the hang of racing on the sand and the form of his most recent second to Rifleman, should by all accounts, stand the test of time.

In the later feature event on the eight-race bonanza, the £11,750 Bet Direct Handicap over a mile-and-a-half, Scent Of Victory is fancied to confirm Paul Cole's high opinion by winning completing a richly-deserved hat-trick at the main expense of Fiddlers Creek.

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