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McKELVEY (3.55) continues his Grand National preparations by taking a trip to Newcastle for the St Patrick's Celebration Handicap Hurdle.

It's an appropriate race for McKelvey since he was born and bred in Ireland, prior to making his fortune on these shores by mopping up a string of decent prizes.

But for going lame on the runin at Aintree last April, secondhome McKelvey would have stuffed Silver Birch, won the National and, as a consequence, be a household name.

It wasn't to be and he was robbed of a famous victory, however he's on the comeback trail and ran well behind Star Beat at Doncaster a fortnight ago.

With that run under his belt, there's an outside chance he'll reverse the form with Star Beat en route to another deserved crack at next month's biggie.

For punters not averse to supporting short-priced favourites, Riguez Dancer (2.15) will surely oblige in the opening Novices' Hurdle.

The form of his track-and-trip triumph looked hot, an opinion vindicated when the horse he beat, Kalahari King, finished a fabulous fourth at the Festival on Tuesday.

Uttoxeter's Midlands National bears little resemblance to the real deal at Liverpool, other than it represents a severe test on energy reserves.

Nonetheless there's a handsome pot at the end of the near four-and-a-quarter-miler, money which may well end up in Arnold Layne's (3.30) coffers.

Caroline Bailey's stayer has won four of his last five over fences, including at this venue, when hammering his rivals with a bold front-running display.

Wetherby take the unusual step of kicking off with their feature event, the £14,000 Totescoop6 Handicap Chase over three miles.

Spring is often the season when horses improve out of all recognition and Sprosser (2.25) seems to be going that way.

Oliver Sherwood's gelding backed up his initial win at Fakenham with an even better effort in defeat by nabbing third spot in a warm Ludlow affair.

Sprosser's rapid progress was confirmed in no uncertain terms when he gunned down Gold Medalist in a thrilling Southwell shoot-out.

After a fantastic Cheltenham, Howard Johnson and his stable jockey, Denis O'Regan, are set to make yet more hay with the prospect of a mouth-watering four-timer. While Compromiznotension (3.00) may have to scrap to win the two-miler, Nosferatu (3.35) is a dead-cert in the following Novices' Hurdle.

Neither of O'Regan's later rides, Frankie Figg (4.45) and Diamond Frontier (5.20), are steering jobs, but both stand a great chance given their respective speed figures.

All-weather action is on the whole drab and dreary, so it's like a breath of fresh air when starstudded contests like the Winter Derby take place at Lingfield.

The selection, Dubai's Touch, epitomised the way the tips have gone recently, finishing second when carrying the nap over course and distance in February.

It was a case of heartbreak hotel for Mark Johnston's colt, principally because he appeared all over the winner until agonisingly mugged in the dying strides by Dansant.

There's no doubt Dubai's Touch (3.15) will be better fitnesswise, with the presence of Joe Fanning in the saddle the icing on the cake.

The Kingsley House handler confuses matters somewhat by additionally fielding Zaham, successful in a Listed contest at Royal Ascot 2007.

Although Zaham is probably a better horse than Dubai's Touch, lack of a recent run, plus his tricky outside draw, make him more of an each-way bet.

Team Johnston and Fanning move on to Kempton's evening meeting where Campanologist (9.20) is a strong fancy in the closing £25,000 Conditions Stakes.

On a recent visit to the Middleham stable Johnston passed on a good word for Campanologist, who he described as a "lovely big horse".

Campanologist was a bit in and out on the turf last season, winning at Sandown and Haydock, but disappointing on visits to Ascot and York.

The son of Kingmambo has thrived physically over the past few months, extra strength which should stand him in good stead for his three-year-old campaign.

10:22am Saturday 15th March 2008

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