MERCHANTS FRIEND offers daring punters the prospect of an enticing each-way bet at Newbury, provided the rain arrives in time to soften the ground for the gut-busting 3-mile £110,000 Hennessy Cognac Gold Gup.

Charlie Mann's mudlark has made great strides over the past 12 months, particularly when dishing out an impressive five-length drubbing to Henry Daly's highly-rated chaser, Roberty Bob, at Uttoxeter in May.

Merchants Friend was then given a long rest prior to reappearing at Wetherby's Charlie Hall meeting in October. Observing the gelding being led around the parade ring that day he was noticeably portly and in the circumstances ran a corker to finish fourth in a hot three-mile chase.

Massively priced at odds of 33-1 or better, the bookies seem to have totally ignored Merchants Friend, most probably on account of the dry week, which has livened up the surface at the Berkshire course.

But that is not the end of the story because if the Met Office have got their sums right then horses and spectators alike might need Noah's Ark to bale them out of the racecourse due to this afternoon's predicted downpour.

Should the rain arrive right on cue it might well thoroughly inconvenience some of Merchants Friend's principal opponents such as Irish Hussar and Strong Flow, both of which have to concede a considerable amount of weight to the selection.

The Hennessey apart, the other major crowd-puller on the card is the presence of French ace Baracouda (2.00) in the Ballymore Properties Long Distance Hurdle.

Barring one minor blemish at Ascot last season, Francois Doumen's raider has proved totally invincible in the top staying hurdle races during the past couple of years.

Admittedly Baracouda has his old foe, Martin Pipe's tough-as-teak Deano's Beeno, to overcome in the listed contest, but Tony McCoy's mount has a poor record against Doumen's gelding and it is hard to envisage the prize remaining on this side of the English Channel.

Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winning trainer Peter Beaumont knows a thing or two about training long-distance chasers and it is gratifying to see he has kept his grand warrior Bobby Grant in training.

At 12 years of age Bobby Grant is undeniably approaching veteran status, but whenever he goes to Haydock there is invariably a spring in his step.

Having jumped the awesome fences at the course with complete aplomb on so many occasions in the past, I fancy Beaumont's battler to outgun his rivals in the gruelling Tim Moloney Memorial Chase over three-and-a-half-miles.

Ferdy Murphy has chosen the White Lodge Handicap Hurdle for Truckers Tavern (2.20) to make his comeback outing.

Murphy's stable-star posted a career-best performance when finishing runner-up to Best Mate in this year's Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival.

Even though he's not as good over the smaller obstacles, the fact Truckers Tavern races off a mark some 30lb lower over hurdles compared to fences gives him an obvious chance.

"We desperately need to get a race into Truckers Tavern before going to the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown next weekend. The King George at Kempton could be next on the agenda, depending on ground conditions," reported Ferdy.

As ever the Saturday column rounds off with a bet for die-hards at Wolverhampton, where Labrett (8.30), a cosy scorer at Lingfield last time out, is strongly fancied to follow-up under the lights.

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