NEWBURY'S meeting today could supply significant clues to the National
Hunt Festival meeting at Cheltenham in March.
The Elcot Park Chase features a clash between Mudahim and Mailcom,
both likely sorts for long-distance novice honours. Mudahim has the
better form at present, having run fourth to Crystal Spirit last time
out. But Mailcom has impressed over fences and at this stage could be
anything.
He brushed aside his rivals when winning novice events at Huntingdon
and Warwick and deserves a crack at better company.
Big Matt can emulate stable-companion Travado by making a successful
chasing debut in the Wantage Novices' Chase. The gelding was a useful
hurdler and picked up a fair prize in a handicap at Leopardstown in
October.
Further north, trainer Len Lungo and jockey Tim Reed have good
prospects of a double at Catterick. The Barton Hurdle will be a true
test of stamina, ideal for Noddle, who ran his rivals into the ground
when making all at the last meeting, while Inverinate is fancied to
follow up a recent success in the Neville Crump Chase.
* ANDY Orkney, the ''galloping optician'' of jump racing, announced
his retirement from the saddle at Carlisle yesterday. However, Orkney,
one of the most popular characters on the northern circuit, was unable
to bow out in glory as Dizzy could finish only sixth in the handicap
hurdle.
For four years, the 32-year-old has combined his professional riding
career with running a busy optician's practice near Middleham. He made
his decision to quit over the Christmas holiday, although it had been on
his mind for two months.
''I'm ready to explore new avenues -- broadcasting, commentating, and
race reading, perhaps. I think the time is right to quit riding with the
point-to-point season just around the corner and it may be an opening
for me to start doing some work in that direction,'' he said.
However, if Orkney was out of luck yesterday, Gordon Richards has his
team in top gear and he landed a 15-1 double at Carlisle.
He strengthened his position as the track's leading trainer when
saddling Tartan Tyrant and Sweet City to land successive races, taking
his tally of winners at the Border track in the past four years to 32.
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