THE lamentable British Horseracing Board have again failed in their duty by scheduling the fixtures in such a way that there isn't a meeting within 120 miles of our region this afternoon.

It's bad news for northern jockeys, trainers, and owners, all of whom have not surprisingly decided Wincanton is simply too far to travel for a run-of-the-mill mid-week jumps meeting.

From a tipping perspective the best bet of the day at the West Country venue could easily prove to be Ishka Baha (3.30) in the Freddie Buckler Novices Chase.

Tom George's Gloucestershire-based filly showed a liking for the place when scoring in gritty fashion over hurdles nine days ago, a fully-deserved victory having hit both uprights and crossbar last season.

Instead of continuing to pursue the hurdling route, Tom now switches his charge to the bigger obstacles, a canny change of tack as Ishka Baha is able to line up with no penalty on her back for the two-mile event.

Paul Blockley doesn't often leave the cash behind when going for a gamble, however that was precisely the scenario with Naval Attache, who dismally failed to justify his position as market leader at Southwell recently.

It may well have been a case of trainer error seeing as Blockley had unwisely opted to return Naval Attache to a sprint trip, a shock tactic since the gelding had run so creditably over nine furlongs on a visit to Wolverhampton the time before.

Naval Attache (3.20) made every yard of the running on the latter occasion before being cruelly robbed right on the wire.

The unlucky four-year-old had the race won everywhere bar the line, and connections have sensibly decided to return to Wolverhampton for an identical contest.

Hiamovi (1.20) has a cracking chance of getting punters off to a flyer in the six-furlong dash.

Robert Cowell's raider started his 2005 campaign brightly enough with a couple of hard-fought wins, before his hot-headed temperament simply got the better of him.

As a result of his tendency to either bolt going down to the stalls, or alternatively boil over and sweat buckets once he arrived, Hiamovi's fortunes took an inevitable turn for the worse.

Happily the problem seems to have been finally cured judging by his latest encouraging effort when fifth at Lingfield.

There's also another plus point to consider if you're thinking of investing on Hiamovi, namely he's slipped a handy 10lbs in the weights by virtue of his former wayward antics.

* Michael Dods made a quick-fire start to 2006 when 85-40 favourite Sound And Vision obliged for the Denton, near Darlington, trainer at Southwell yesterday.

* Lingfield winner Stoic Leader (11-2) made it two successful naps in a row for Janus (Colin Woods) following Monday's 7-2 scorer, Nas Na Riogh.

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