HEREFORD'S ultra-sharp two-mile track could help Denise Best (2.40) to open her National Hunt account in the Sporting Options Novices' Chase.

The Karen George-trained mare, a ten-furlong winner on the level for Mark Johnston at Pontefract this summer, didn't seem to possess the necessary amount of stamina to stay the two-and-a-half-mile trip on her latest try in handicap hurdles' company.

But that is not to say Denise Best hasn't got a future in the jumping sphere, because she's always given the impression there was money to be made with her once the penny had dropped.

Perhaps the switch to the bigger obstacles is just the wake-up call required for the selection, likely to go off at odds of 16-1 or better and therefore very much falling into the category of an each-way investment, rather than on the nose to win.

Following a disastrous 2003/2004 season, Richard Phillips is once again starting to make serious inroads into the training ranks.

Phillips has shrewdly enlisted the help of former champion jockey, Richard Dunwoody, at his Lambourn stables, which has certainly had the desired effect on Thrilling Prospect (2.50), fancied to complete a three-timer in the feature event at Newton Abbot, the £9,000 totepool Handicap Hurdle.

Fortuitously for connections, Thrilling Prospect has unquestionably lived up to her extremely ambitious name by recording successive victories at Towcester and Lingfield. On the first occasion the rapidly improving mare beat the highly-regarded Lady Zephyr, while at Lingfield she couldn't have been more impressive when flooring a decent field of novices with plenty left in the locker after crossing the finishing line eight lengths clear of her nearest pursuer.

The prize money on offer at either of the jumps' meetings hardly compares favourably with Lingfield, where there's a tasty £20,000 up for grabs in the Littlewoods Bet Direct Handicap.

No jockey rides the course better than the immensely talented Irishman Richard Hughes, consequently I have no hesitation whatsoever in nominating Corriolanus (3.00) for the valuable mile-and-a-quarter contest.

Having previously won over the distance at Newmarket, Philip Mitchell's runner was already a stand-out wager as far as I was concerned. Add this to the fact that Corriolanus ran a corker when third at the track in an identical standard race last time out, and it makes me even more convinced Richard's mount is the one to be on.

In the earlier Fillies' Handicap, Chorus Beauty (1.00) makes plenty of appeal even though she's been sidelined for 146 days.

Veteran handler Geoff Wragg really is an absolute master when it comes to producing horses 100 per cent right after a long lay-off. Given that Wragg isn't prone to campaigning many of his string on the all-weather, Chorus Beauty is almost sure to have been cherry-picked for the job in hand despite her long absence.

*Bindaree could run in the John Hughes Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow on Saturday as a stepping stone towards the Coral Welsh National at the same venue.

The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained gelding was yesterday installed 10-1 second favourite behind Celestial Gold for the December 28 marathon, which he won last year. His participation in Saturday's race is dependent on how he performs in a gallop today.

Bindaree won the Grand National at Aintree in 2002 when he was rated 136, and Twiston-Davies is mindful of the fact that handicapper Phil Smith now has him on 147. ''I hope it's not prohibitive and I certainly think the horse is not going backwards,'' he said.

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