FORMER top-class flat racer Double Honour (2.00) makes a surprise switch to the novices' chasing ranks at Hereford this afternoon.

Double Honour, runner-up to Persian Punch in the 2001 Goodwood Cup, left Mark Johnston's stable at the end of that season to go jumping with Philip Hobbs. Hobbs has since mopped up three hurdle races with the grey gelding, but the decision to send the six-year-old over fences while still in the embryonic stages of his National Hunt career comes as quite a surprise.

Connections had originally intended to go for this year's Stayers Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, an option that of course still remains open. However, Hobbs might well have decided that the reigning champ Baracouda was simply to good to take on and hence the move up to the bigger obstacles has been brought forward.

Whatever the reasoning behind the ploy, I have every faith in Double Honour, a wonderfully consistent and honest individual, well worthy of the nap selection in the Sun Valley Foods Beginners Chase.

Despite several trainers in our area complaining that their horses have been held up by the recent cold snap, Consett-based handler Wilf Storey appears to have his string in good order.

Wilf despatches one of his longest serving inmates, Suggest (3.10), to Musselburgh in the hope of winning the most valuable event on the card, the three-mile Innerwick Handicap Hurdle.

Suggest, who made a pleasing return to form when runner-up at Catterick before Christmas, has slipped back to a favourable handicap mark and it would be unwise to ignore his claims from so low in the weights.

The latest member of big-spending Graham Wylie's brigade, Flownaway, makes his eagerly-anticipated debut over the sticks in the earlier division 2 of the Tom McConnell Novices' Hurdle.

Purchased privately out of Willie Jarvis's yard having won three times on the level last summer, Flownaway (1.10) looks every inch a smart recruit to the winter game.

The once-useful Scottish River (1.20) looked as if he was going to make up into a Group class performer when trained at Middleham, sadly though, something went seriously amiss and the gelding is now plying his trade on the all-weather circuit.

Despite being a shadow of his former self, Scottish River did hint at a mini-revival when third at Wolverhampton last week and provided his old problems do not resurface, the Bet Direct Handicap at Lingfield might just be at his mercy.

There has supposedly been a crackdown on even the most marginally dubious new names for racehorses, but as is usually the case where off-guard authorities are in charge the odd one slips through the net from time to time.

One such example has recently emerged in the guise of Skidmark (2.20), who over the next few months might easily find himself up against a horse called Pants, in which the case the course commentator could find it hard to keep a straight face.

In the meanwhile, Skidmark is fancied to follow-up his December track and trip victory in the betdirect.co.uk Handicap.

l An era in jump racing came to an end yesterday when it was announced that See More Business, one of the best staying chasers of recent years, is to retire.

Owners Sir Robert Ogden and Paul Barber made the decision following the 14-year-old gelding's recovery from a short illness.

See More Business's major victories in a career spanning nine seasons included the 1999 Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Pertemps King George VI Chase in both 1997 and 1999.

He also won Aintree's Martell Cup as well as two Country Gentlemen's Association Chases at Wincanton.

In a statement Barber said: ''We will always remember winning a Gold Cup, but the reception he received when winning the Country Gentlemen's Association Chase at Wincanton last year was something that made the body tingle."