TRANSIT (2.05) travels to Musselburgh this afternoon in the hope of bagging the feature race at the Scottish track, the £25,000 totetrifecta Handicap Hurdle.

The riding tactics employed by Dean Gallagher aboard Transit last time out at Cheltenham were the subject of heated debate after Dean seemingly set his horse an impossible task from the rear of the field.

The combination, anchored in 13th and last position with just two flights to jump, appeared to be going nowhere fast. It was only then that Gallagher asked Transit for an effort, and although he managed to overtake the majority of his rivals, the eventual winner, King Revo, had inevitably obtained first run.

With such a substantial prize on offer, it's doubtful whether Transit's replacement pilot, Doug Costello, will give his opponents quite so much rope, in which case compensation could await for that unlucky Cheltenham reverse.

Despite being beaten out of sight following a 42-week break on his seasonal reappearance at Sandown, Mulligatawny (1.15) should not be dismissed out of hand for Newbury's three-mile Mandarin Chase.

Mulligatawny ran admirably well for much of the race at the Esher venue, maintaining close contact with the principals until lack of peak fitness caused his jockey to take things easy and sensibly not subject his mount to undue punishment.

Such kindness is not always rewarded, but Mulligatawny has won on his second outing of the season for each of the past two years, a statistic which is bound to buoy the selection's prospects no end.

John Best's decision to shift Otago (2.30) significantly up in trip for Lingfield's AW Jockeys Championship Handicap is a well-thought out ploy for the £5,000 contest.

Otago is a handsome beast, but so far he's failed to live up to his film star looks with a series relatively disappointing performances. The Best stable are normally pretty accurate when assessing the horses in the yard, but they got their sums badly wrong when lumping lorry-loads of cash on the gelding at Wolverhampton.

Otago was fitted with headgear and failed once again, prompting the more prudent alternative of stepping him up from a mile-and-a-quarter to the more suitable distance of 13 furlongs.

In view of the fact that there was much to like about Spring Dew's track and trip debut, she gets the nod in division two of the Bet Direct Maiden Stakes.

Jonathan Geake's three-year-old is a nicely-bred filly by Starborough, whose offspring generally improve with age. And it is also worth noting that connections must have thought plenty about Spring Dew (12.15), as she didn't actually make the racecourse until six weeks short of her fourth birthday.

Having recently met more traffic delays than on a bad day round Spaghetti Junction, Gogetter Girl (1.25) attempts to find a more direct route from stalls to winning line in the Nursery Handicap.

After encountering so much trouble in running at Wolverhampton last time out, it's easy to forgive Gogetter Girl's undistinguished outing.

But that is not to say she can't bounce back to form, and on a strict line though her narrow defeat by Kings After, John Gallagher's youngster should be on the premises come the finale of the seven-furlong contest.

* Beef Or Salmon finally put in the performance he has always threatened to leave triple Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Best Mate toiling in the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown yesterday.

The Grade One contest headlines a fantastic four days of racing at the Dublin track and there is no doubt the lingering image will be the Michael Hourigan-trained eight-year-old powering home in the winter sunshine.

The gelding has finished behind Best Mate on three separate occasions but finally turned the form around when jumping to the front three fences out.

Paul Carberry kicked for home with two to jump and Best Mate was left seven lengths adrift.

However, connections of the runner-up, who drifted to a starting price of 9-10, were not shocked by the result after the ground turned soft, heavy in places.

Jockey Jim Culloty said: ''He ran very well but it was the age-old thing that he wants good ground.''

Beef Or Salmon was slashed to 6-1 from 12s by Ladbrokes for the Gold Cup.