MULLIGATAWNY (2.50) has the class to serve up a tasty treat for his backers in the Tote Bookmakers Novices' Handicap Chase at Huntingdon this afternoon.

A big brute of a horse, good enough to win over hurdles at the likes of Ascot, Mulligatawny has come to fencing relatively late in life at ten years of age.

A dicky set of front pins, rather than an inability to jump, was in all probability the reason connections stuck to the smaller obstacles for so long.

But having recently taken over the training licence from his father, Josh, rookie handler Nick Gifford took the plunge and tried the selection over fences at Wincanton 26 days ago.

It was a calculated risk which paid off as his charge ran a race full of promise to be third behind the Martin Pipe-trained odds-on favourite Tucacas.

A full 13 lengths adrift of Mulligatawny that was day was Henry Daly's Long Walk, who gave the form a monster boost by scoring at Ludlow yesterday, a victory rubber-stamping the gilt-edged prospects of Gifford's raider in the £12,000, three-mile contest.

In the preceding Racecourse Video Services Handicap, the ultra-consistent Strong Magic (2.20) deserves a change of luck.

Before Christmas, Russ Hobson's mount was picking up place money all over the show, but just couldn't seem to get his head in front where it really mattered.

In an attempt to resolve the frustrating sequence, trainer John Cornwall gave Strong Magic a much-needed holiday which might conceivably have freshened him up sufficiently to make a welcome return to the winners' enclosure.

Malton-based Malcolm Jefferson is enduring a wretched season by his own high standards, knocking in a mere seven winners, but there have been signs of a revival during the past couple of weeks.

One of his inmates expected to help kick-start the stable into action is Altareek (3.50), who for the first time steps up to the near-marathon trip of three-and-a-quarter-miles in the Tote Exacta Handicap Hurdle.

The name of the game is going to be stamina and Atlareek, an out-and-out stayer, is expected to grind his rivals down courtesy of his relentless galloping style.

Quite a few Cheltenham Festival candidates line-up for the Chatteris Fen Juvenile Novices' Hurdle, an extended two- miler for which Adopted Hero (3.20) comes out the clear pick on the majority of speed ratings.

Adopted Hero, a son of the 12-times champion sire, Sadler's Wells, was a Listed winner on the Flat when in the care of John Gosden. He's since moved on to Gary Moore's Brighton-based yard, running a cracker on his hurdling debut at Chepstow in December.

Moore is no doubt using this afternoon's contest as a stepping stone to next month's Festival and should therefore have his four-year-old in more or less tip-top fettle for the most valuable event on the card.

* Officials at Cheltenham were yesterday considering the ramifications of a request by supporters of Manchester United to stage a major protest against the club's principal shareholders John Magnier and JP McManus at next month's Festival meeting.

The 'United 4 Action' group are hoping up to 250 of their number will join what they intend to be a ''peaceful, vocal'' protest on Gold Cup Day, March 18.

''We are trying to get out heads around how a private dispute should threaten the enjoyment of 60,000 people on what is our big day, and trying to understand the connection is quite baffling,'' said managing director Edward Gillespie