MURPHY'S CARDINAL, who is being specifically prepared for next year's Cheltenham Gold Cup, needs to win at Sandown this afternoon if he is to emerge as a serious threat to the three-time reigning champion, Best Mate.

Trainer Noel Chance rightly holds the unbeaten Murphy's Cardinal in the highest regard as a result of six straight victories.

But despite multiple success in bumper and hurdles company, the son of Shenarzar always threatened to be at his best once switched to fences.

Such dreams often turn to dust in the topsy-turvy world of horse racing. But when the decision was made to allow Murphy's Cardinal to have a crack at the bigger obstacles, he made no mistake with an impressive chase debut at Plumpton 12 months ago.

Having already bagged a brace of Gold Cups, Noel knows what it takes to prevail at the top of the chasing tree, and after a minor setback opted to rest Murphy's Cardinal for the remainder of the 2003/2004 season.

Even though the exciting eight-year-old had been out of action for a long time, it didn't stop him pulverising a classy field on his recent reappearance at Down Royal in Ireland.

Now back on home soil, Murphy's Cardinal (2.35) is seeking to justify the optimism of those insiders who snapped up ante-post vouchers at odds of 50-1 or better for the 2005 Cheltenham Festival, prior to his anticipated triumph in today's £25,000 Future Stars Intermediate Chase.

Howard Johnson's bid to scoop the £30,000 Winter Novices Hurdle for the second year in succession may hit a brick wall if No Refuge's limitations are exposed in the valuable two-and-a-half-mile contest.

"He gave an adequate performance when scoring at Aintree, but I still say he's no Inglis Drever (last year's winner)," revealed Howard.

No Refuge clearly has scope for improvement, but I believe he'll have to sprout wings in order to deal with Ladalko, who is preferred to the County Durham raider on the evidence of the latter's second placing in a white-hot Grade 2 hurdle at Chepstow in October.

Very few thoroughbreds have the necessary staying power to be moving forward at speed after jumping 21 steeplechase fences, plus galloping four leg-buckling miles on rain-softened turf.

Of course there are inevitably a handful of exceptions to the rule, and Exeter-bound Miners Dance (2.15) proved that he was up to the job by producing a stunning late surge to snatch the 2003 running of the long-distance Axminster Carpets Marathon Handicap Chase.

Ultra-shrewd west-country handler, Brendan Powell, has once again targeted Miners Dance at the feature event by cleverly giving his gelding a pleasing Fontwell spin, where the game eleven-year-old was plugging on stoutly at the death to grab second spot.

With the benefit of that outing under his belt, together with the fact that Miners Dance competes off precisely the same mark as when occupying the winners' circle last year, his prospects of completing a famous double look rosy.

Eagle-eyed punters studying the form at Wolverhampton over the past couple of weeks may have noticed that jockeys with sufficient bottle to stick like glue to the inside rail have been rewarded by latching onto the quickest part of the track.

The advantage is even more pronounced in sprints, persuading me to side with Ryedane (1.50), favourably drawn in stall three for the six-furlong Littlewoods Bet Direct Nursery.

Tim Easterby's colt had little luck over course and distance last time out, finding himself short of room at a crucial stage of the contest two furlongs from the finish.

Unfortunately for backers of the two-year-old, Ryedane lost crucial momentum and by the time rider David Allan had extracted the combination from the pack and found some daylight, the leaders had flown.

Allan will doubtless be extra vigilant after that disappointing reverse, and given a little more good fortune the gaps will hopefully appear and enable the North Yorkshire-based raider to power clear of the opposition.

* Paul Nicholls may never get the chance to train a triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, but he can at least lay claim to being fully familiar with the family after scoring for the second time in a week with a full-brother to Best Mate at Wincanton yesterday.

Having struck with the quirky Cornish Rebel at Newbury on Sunday, it was the turn of the equally-enigmatic Inca Trail to come home in front as he benefited from an exemplary Ruby Walsh ride to win the Silver Buck Handicap Chase.

It was the first leg of a 72-1 treble for trainer and jockey at their local track.

The well-backed 11-4 favourite has shown a tendency to find less then expected in the past when asked to go and win.

But the eight-year-old barely knew he had been in a race as he cantered home by five lengths from Carryonharry.

Having steadily picked off his rivals from the back of the field, Inca Trail found himself in the lead approaching the second-last after Carryonharry made a bad mistake at the previous fence when in front.

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