Good Cause for celebrations

Last time out at Sandown George Moore's gelding was taking on many of the south's top guns in the £50,000 Sunderlands Novices' Handicap Final.

Although All For The Cause could only finish 11th of 17, for my money he still ran extremely well by making significant late headway, prior to weakening on the run-in.

Barry Keniry didn't knock his mount about once their chance had evaporated, hence the selection should hopefully still have some spring left in his legs.

The west of Scotland venue has been a happy hunting ground in the past for Witch Wind (2.10), fancied to take the opening Handicap Chase.

Witch Wind hasn't exactly been firing on all cylinders so far this season, however there was a hint he was returning to form when fourth at Newcastle in February.

So many of Howard Johnson's horses are steering jobs when lining up in Novices' Hurdles and Companero (2.40) seems to be no exception.

Denis O'Regan didn't have to shift out of second gear when scoring on Companero at Carlisle, such was the partnership's superiority.

They have a half-mile less to travel today, but with underfoot conditions set to be nothing short of desperate, the emphasis will remain primarily on stamina.

Top Mark (4.15), who recently opened his account over course and distance, might easily followup in the two-mile Family Fun Handicap.

Lucinda's Russell's raider previously won four races on the Flat, a decent haul which he always promised to supplement when turning his attentions to the National Hunt sphere.

Fans of old-fashioned type chasers need look no further than the swashbuckling Native Coll (4.50) in the Scottish Handicap Chase.

A great big bruiser of a horse, Native Coll soars over steeplechase fences with the pin-point precision of a beast built specifically to jump for fun.

Easily his most impressive triumph was when sauntering to victory over track and trip in the early part of the month, a win which gave clear notice of plenty more to come.

Wolverhampton-bound King's Fable (8.50) had no luck whatsoever in running when a close-up fourth on his latest Kempton spin.

Rider Tom McLaughlin went for a daring effort up the inner, but it turned out he was driving up a blind alley and had to switch wide to find daylight. By the time King's Fable got going again it was effectively game over.

■ Kalahari King is likely to bypass the Grand National meeting and instead take his chance in the Samsung Electronics Scottish Champion Hurdle on April 19.

Having got off the mark over hurdles in impressive style at Musselburgh, the seven-year-old proved slightly disappointing when beaten on his next two outings.

However, trainer Ferdy Murphy never lost faith in the gelding and he ran a huge race to finish fourth in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Although he is likely to have an entry in one of the novice events at Aintree, Murphy is more keen to go down the handicap route at Ayr.

He said: Our favoured option would be the Scottish Champion Hurdle.

We'll have a good look at the Aintree race once the entries are out, but at this stage, Ayr is the plan.'' One member of Murphy's team that looks like heading to Liverpool next week is Aces Four.

The nine-year-old pleased his handler in a recent spin over hurdles and has the totesport Bowl as his next objective on Thursday week.

Murphy continued: I was happy with his run at Market Rasen.

"It was his first run for a long time and he is a very gassy horse so I just wanted to get him out and get a run into him."