KING REVO (3.10) is 100 per cent revved up to reign supreme in this afternoon's feature event at Sandown, the £100,000 Class A Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle.

At the start of the current jumps' season King Revo's trainer, Patrick Haslam, reckoned it was 50-50 as to whether his horse would be up to champion hurdle standard or merely a very smart handicapper.

Many near top-class hurdlers are caught up in similar dilemmas but in taking the handicap route at Cheltenham last time out, Haslam's powerhouse waltzed away with a valuable prize under a determined ride from Tony McCoy.

"This race has been the plan for some time and Robert Stephens will ride," said Haslam. "He came third on him at Doncaster and the seven pounds he takes off King Revo's back looks good value."

With a near maximum 23-runner field going to post for the extended two-mile showpiece, the gallop is bound to be fast and furious from the outset. And this is just the type of scenario suited to King Revo, who not only had the speed to win over a middle-distances when campaigned on the Flat, but also possesses the stamina in abundance required to grind out a win on Sandown's notoriously stiff uphill climb to the line.

The card kicks off with a storming juvenile hurdle in which Howard Johnson's Iron Man (1.00) has a good chance of panning the all-southern-based opposition.

Iron Man, yet another smart jumping recruit purchased by Andrea and Graham Wylie, showed his rivals a clean pair of heels when slamming Anne Duffield's Named At Dinner by 15 lengths at Ayr in November.

He then came up against last year's November Handicap winner, Carte Diamond, at Newcastle, running a fine race to finish second to Brian Ellison's high-class individual.

As his name implies, Iron Man doesn't give in without a fight and it'll take a pretty useful performer to lower his colours if it comes down to a head-to-head scrap over the closing couple of furlongs.

Yet another of the Wylies' ever-growing band of National Hunt stars, Astronomic, turns out in the later £50,000 Tolworth Hurdle.

Astronomic, unbeaten on his only two starts to date over timber, claimed the notable scalp of Marcel at Haydock in early December.

He has been treated to a five-week break since then and is fancied to return all guns blazing in a competitive heat that promises to produce a grandstand finish.

Marcel's jockey, Timmy Murphy, believes Irish raider Wild Passion will be the main threat to his mount.

Marcel has won eight races for trainer Martin Pipe since switching from France and though he tasted defeat when only second to Astronomic at Haydock, Pipe's five-year-old has since bounced back with a Grade Two win at Windsor.

He will clash with his Howard Johnson-trained conqueror again at Sandown, but Murphy believes he has more to fear from Noel Meade's Wild Passion, winner of the Grade One Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse on his last start.

The two-mile Handicap Chase sees the vastly improved Oneway (2.05) bid for a magnificent four-timer.

Despite rocketing up the weights, the eight-year-old continues to defy the Official Handicapper and dismiss his rivals with contemptuous ease. Perhaps the most enviable trait Oneway possesses in his considerable armoury is the manner with which he flies over his fences, gaining valuable lengths with every obstacle that passes.

If rain-lashed Haydock manages to survive an inspection, keep an eye out for Hot Weld (1.15) in the near three-mile Casino Handicap Hurdle.

Ferdy Murphy's gelding pulverised some quite useful sorts at Newcastle recently, galloping along with such vigour at the Tyneside track that all jockey Timmy Murphy had to do was steer his charge in the appropriate direction.

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