SOUTHWELL stages the most valuable race of the day in which Quito (3.40) bids to wipe away the misery of a wasted journey to Wolverhampton a fortnight ago.

Having travelled all the way from North Yorkshire to the Midlands venue, Quito was backed as if defeat was out of the question, only to be virtually knocked over by a rival with a serious steering problem on his inner.

Such incidents are part and parcel of the general bunching that often causes interference problems as the field attempt to rip round the notoriously sharp bends on all three of the all-weather tracks.

Even so, I'm sure jockey Tony Culhane will do everything in his power to avoid a similarly dangerous incident aboard Quito, who, as a former winner of the Ayr Gold Cup, looks head-and-shoulders above today's opposition in the £20,000 Bet Direct Handicap. Not many three-year-olds are capable of beating their elders in either January or February, but sometimes there is an exception to the rule and Orpen Wide (3.10) fits the bill to perfection.

Michael Chapman's hat-trick-seeking speedster, who is owned by Sir Clement Freud, represents yet another shining example of just how much a colt can be improved by a relatively straightforward gelding operation.

It seems Orpen Wide used to have his own ideas about the game, however now that the unkindest cut of all has been administered, he's settled down and decided to turn his full attention to getting past the post in front, rather than being distracted by the fillies.

After two wretched tries over steeplechase fences, York-based trainer Declan Carroll has opted to switch Benbyas (4.10) back to the Flat for the closing mile-and-a-half Sky Active Handicap.

Benbyas picked up successive middle-distances events on turf during the spring of 2004 at Pontefract and Haydock, the latter occasion when rated no less than 65. By some peculiar quirk of the system, the eight-year-old is now able to compete off a mark of 58 on the fibre-sand, which to my way of thinking is sufficient of an advantage to make his class tell in the low-grade £4,000 contest.

Brave Spirit, bought for buttons yet successful in four of his previous five races, looks good to continue his winning streak at Taunton.

Although Colin Tizzard's chaser only cost 3,000 guineas, it hasn't stopped him going from strength-to-strength, most recently putting in an heroic effort at Fontwell to collect the three-and-a-half-mile Betfred Southern Grand National.

Brave Spirit has roughly the same distance of ground to cover in the gg.com Handicap Chase, a race in which he'll still be slogging on when many others will have fallen by the wayside.

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