ASCOT'S decision to stage the United House Gold Cup on the same day as Wetherby's Charlie Hall Chase over near enough the same distance has set off a war of words between the respective camps.

It's a crazy situation which should never have been allowed to happen, but in-keeping with the shoddy way our rulers run racing, nothing was done to prevent the clash, thus cutting down the precious few options left to horses at the upper end of the three-mile chasing scale.

One of the individuals entered in both was Howard Johnson's Bewleys Berry (2.10), owned by his principal patrons, Graham and Andrea Wylie, who between them have opted to head away from our region to try to beat the southern boys on their own patch.

Seeing as Bewleys Berry scored first time out last term, he clearly goes well when fresh, a major positive along with the prevailing quick ground, which despite recent watering and all of the wet weather, remains firm in the home straight.

Taking full account of underfoot conditions it's going to be fast and furious stuff, no place for the faint-hearted, making the key role of rider Tony Dobbin even more important than normal.

Bewleys Berry is a natural front-runner, so the best way to tackle the £100,000 feature is to fire at every fence from the second the tapes go up.

Johnson's string, especially his fencing brigade are in fine fettle, which can only bolster confidence and help the Wylie's claw back a pound or two of the many millions they've famously pumped into the game during the past four years.