PETER BOWEN'S decision to send Irish Wolf (2.10) out on the prowl at Ascot spells danger with a capital D for his rivals in the Long Walk Hurdle.

There's simply no hiding place in the three-miles-and-one-furlong lung-buster, a point not lost on fans of the terrier-like Irish Wolf, who has shown during his last couple of races that he relishes a good old-fashioned scrap.

The gelding has been beaten on both of those starts but, on the flip side of the coin, to be narrowly eclipsed by Halcon Genelardias, then Inglis Drever, represents form of the highest calibre.

Chasing home Welsh National hope Halcon Genelardias was a sparkling effort, however Irish Wolf really excelled himself against former Cheltenham Festival hero Inglis Drever, when the pair fought out an epic duel at Newbury.

Howard Johnson, trainer of Inglis Drever, has opted to dispatch another of his big guns, No Refuge, down south for the £100,000 thriller. The latter is a class act but Irish Wolf still gets the nod in a vintage encounter brimming with star turns.

Prize money at the top end of the National Hunt spectrum has risen dramatically, hence the £160,000 pool on offer to the first four in the Ladbroke Hurdle.

It's brilliant for the sport to see a minnow vying for the top honours, cue GP Richard Newland, whose Overstrand (1.40) is all set to play a major role in the valuable two-mile thriller.

Many folk from round these parts will recall Overstrand bagging Sandown's William Hill Hurdle for Mary Reveley in 2003, but after a subsequent fall from grace and injury problems, he drifted out of the limelight.

Newland, who was only granted a licence in October, snapped up Overstrand at the sales for a mere 10,000 guineas, promptly landed a massive gamble (20s to 8-1) at Leicester, then a fortnight ago won the self-same William Hill-sponsored Sandown event.

"He won so well at Leicester I thought we'd better go to Sandown before the handicapper intervened," said Newland, who combines medicine with overseeing a further five horses at his training base just north of Worcester.

Mid-week Newlands' wife, Laura, with family friend Milly Murray, take care of stable duties. "They get good food, regular exercise, plus plenty of time out in the field, nothing more complicated than that," revealed the good doctor.

Haydock's awesome fences present one of the sternest tests available to steeple-chasers, so the outcome of the three-mile "Tommy Whittle" will very much depend on which horse puts in a decent clear round.

An individual with a good record at the course is Nicky Henderson's Aristoxene (2.35), a six-year-old boasting one win plus a second placing to his name in two highly-profitable visits to the track.

Andrew Tinkler's mount is not foot perfect, however he does have the ability to find a leg and stop himself falling, a skill underlined at Cheltenham last time when despite several bad blunders, he miraculously stayed upright to claim fourth spot.

There's ample evidence to suggest Aristoxene would have gone close but for clattering those obstacles, therefore providing he's fitter for that comeback spin, the £30,000 feature could be his.

There's no better feeling than backing an early winner, to which end I'm putting forward nap selection Special Gold (12.55) to get the kitty rolling in the opener at Lingfield.

The sprinter spent his formative years with Tim Easterby until moving to Alan Brown's Malton yard, a switch which brought about almost instant dividends when Special Gold collected over track and trip at the beginning of the month.

It was an especially meritorious performance since the gelding was drawn wide in stall eight, yet still managed to exit the gates with such speed that he never saw another rival in what was a gutsy pillar-to-post victory.

Although up 5lbs for the win, Special Gold has a slightly more favourable stall position at seven, a berth from which jockey Paul Mulrennan is ideally placed to adopt identical catch-me-if-you-can tactics.

Finally to Kempton, where an equally in-form speed merchant, Small Stakes (5.50), is likely to have the bookies on the hop in the Betbrokers Account Handicap.

Even though it's Christmas, I don't anticipate the local layers being too generous about the odds for Peter Makin's raider, currently standing on the brink of an impressive all-weather three-timer.