THIS afternoon's Peterhouse Group Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby looks like turning out to be a real thriller having attracted a top-class line-up of three-mile staying chasers.

The vintage field includes previous Cheltenham Festival scorers Marlborough and Hussard Collonges, Hennessey Gold Cup hero What's Up Boys, plus the return of the 2001 Scottish Grand National winner, Gingembre.

And as if that heady list of equine stars was not sufficient to get the adrenaline flowing, I believe Henrietta Knight's Lord Noelie (2.15) represents the icing on the cake.

Lord Noelie established himself as a major player in the National Hunt premier league stakes by scooping the Grade 1 Sun Alliance Novices' Chase at the 2000 Cheltenham Festival.

But since that time he's been dogged by misfortune, most notably in the "Charlie Hall" exactly 12 months ago when he was cantering all over the opposition, only to blunder and hit the deck three fences from home.

Lord Noelie's woes were later compounded by breaking a blood vessel when third to Florida Pearl in the Martell Cup Chase at Aintree in April, however, as his trainer explained, she's still optimistic of a good run: "He's summered extremely well and is a better horse when fresh," said Henrietta.

In such a valuable and high-profile contest it's always great to have a serious local contender and North Yorkshire-based Hussard Collonges fits the bill to perfection.

Peter Beaumont, responsible for such great jumping stars as Jodami and the ill-fated Young Kenny, has once again come up with a crackerjack in the shape of Hussard Collonges, who followed in the footsteps of Lord Noelie by winning this year's re-run of the Sun Alliance Novices' Chase.

"He's in good form and fit enough to do himself justice," reported Beaumont, whose charge, at only seven years of age, is the least exposed horse in the £50,000 showpiece.

The remainder of the card positively bristles with top-notch performers, including Irish raider Boss Doyle (3.20), bidding to take the John Smith's Hurdle for the third year in succession.

But the real talking point of the contest is the participation of this year's Grand National winner Bindaree, surprisingly switching back to hurdles on his seasonal reappearance having conquered Liverpool's awesome obstacles back in the spring.

Bindaree's presence certainly adds extra spice to an already interesting event, however Mouse Morris knows precisely how much work it takes to get Boss Doyle in peak condition for the stamina-sapping race and he does appear to be the safest bet.

The earlier Stanley-sponsored Wensleydale Juvenile Novices' Hurdle often throws up a three-year-old to follow and Tim Easterby's Tunstall (1.40) fits neatly into that category.

Tunstall's sole start over course and distance resulted in a super-fluent success in mid-October and judging by the way he jumped and travelled throughout there is plenty more to come form the son of Bahri.

In addition to Wetherby, Ascot also stages some superb action, fronted by the two-mile £30,000 United House Handicap Chase.

Sure to be run at a breakneck gallop, Batswing (2.20), from Brian Ellison's Malton stable, flies the flag for the north. Batswing, who rounded off last season with a thumping win at the Punchestown Festival, is said to be in excellent order and could be the one to thrust Ellison into the big-time over the next few months.

At Kelso, mention must be made of the hugely versatile Fiori (1.05), a winner on the Flat, over hurdles and, latterly, massively impressive on his novice-chasing debut at the track 14 days ago.

Having already handled the trappy obstacles at the Borders' venue with such panache, it is no great shock to see trainer Patrick Haslam sending his Middeham raider back for the John Dunn Intermediate Chase in the hope that Fiori can defy his 7lb penalty.

At Wolverhampton, if you're down to your last buck losses could yet be recouped by siding with the David Chapman-trained all-weather specialist Quito (9.30), seemingly revelling in his new career on the fibre-sand.

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