DOUBLE HONOUR continues his preparation for a tilt at the forthcoming Cheltenham Festival in the opening Novices' Hurdle at Exeter today.

Well-known to northern racegoers for his near top-class exploits on the Flat when in the hands of Mark Johnston, Double Honour (1.30) has now moved to the west country where he has joined trainer Philip Hobbs.

The real big bucks are still mainly confined to horses participating on the level, so it was a major risk by syndicate organiser, Ron Huggins, to switch the grey staying star to a much more precarious career in the National Hunt arena.

To date the gamble has paid off since Double Honour won pulling the equivalent of ten London buses on his debut at Huntingdon earlier on this month. The one to chase him home that day - at a respectable distance - was Charlie Mann's Keltic Heritage.

The value of the form already looked sweet, and that was before the latter smashed up a big field of handicap hurdlers at Cheltenham's weekend fixture. After that, Double Honour is bound to go off at very prohibitive odds in the two-mile-and-three-furlong contest. None the less he is impossible to oppose and his progress through the jumping ranks will be of great interest to his fans, whether they be based in our region, or new-found admirers down south.

The most valuable race of the day is at Kempton where the three mile St Clement Chase has attracted prize money in excess of £15,000.

Several progressive young chasers line up in the 14-strong field, including Coole Spirit (2.20), unbeaten in his two starts over fences in 2001. Emma Lavelle's gigantic ten-year-old has not been seen out for 436-days, which could be a tad off-putting.

But in the past Coole Spirit has shown some of his best form when returning from a long and lay-off and backers willing to take on his chance on his state of fitness could be rewarded with a nice-priced winner.

It's virtually impossible to envisage Henrietta Knight leaving the meeting out of-pocket with the likes of Over The Storm (1.20), Umbrella Man (2.55), plus El Vaquero (3.25) all holding decent prospects.

Over The Storm, yet another successful recruit for the Irish point-to-point circuit burst on to the British racing scene with runaway victory at Doncaster in December. Despite now having to face stronger opposition, he still looks good to make it two-from-two in the Master Bavin's Novices' Chase.

Umbrella Man was nothing like as impressive when finally opening account over the bigger obstacles at Ludlow 11 days ago. It was however a workmanlike effort, regarded in this quarter at least as a promising portent of better things to come.

El Vaquero's credentials are there for all to see having spread-eagled 19 other runners on his debut at Huntingdon, and even though he must now shoulder a 7lb penalty in division 1 of the Future Stars National Hunt Flat Race, another visit to the winners' enclosure surely beckons.

The mainly low-grade stuff at Wolverhampton is happily punctuated by a competitive six furlong sprint at 2.45 bringing together several old faithful sand speedsters.

The one to catch my eye in particular is Quito, who has not only won at the course in the past, but also appeared to be making a welcome return to form when seventh at Southwell last week.

Quito might have finished in the first four had he not been hampered a furlong from the winning post. In addition the trip of five furlongs was not in his favour, whereas this afternoon's extra 220 yards will suit Tony Culhane's mount to perfection.

In the earlier Claiming Stakes, Arpeggio (1.05) may not even have to break sweat in order to give his modest rivals a severe thrashing.

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