COLLIER HILL (3.00) can provide trainer Alan Swinbank with the biggest success of his career to date by lifting this afternoon's £180,000 John Smith's Northumberland Plate, writes Colin Woods.

The hard-as-nails six-year-old is also guaranteed a hero's welcome if he does prevail since Collier Hill is part-owned by the Newcastle-based businessman, Ashley Young, who bought a half-share in the horse around the time he won over hurdles at Kelso in November last year.

"Collier Hill is in good form and the rain has arrived just in time for him," said Swinbank, whose team has conveniently looked in prime nick over the past couple of weeks. "He's won on all sorts of ground but is definitely best with a bit of give,"

Swinbank, who trains near Melsonby, south of Darlington, is a pretty shrewd cookie when it comes to laying out one of his horses for such a prestigious and valuable event.

Last season he made no secret of the fact that he believed Collier Hill could win the similarly competitive Old Newton Cup at Haydock, and sure enough the tank-like son of Dr Devious did the business with the help of the legendary Pat Eddery in the saddle.

With Eddery now retired, the immensely strong Robert Winston, who has ridden Collier Hill to victory on several occasions, including last time out at Hamilton, resumes his partnership with the gutsy gelding.

Both of those money-spinning successes were achieved over 12 furlongs.

However, Collier Hill demonstrated his effectiveness over today's two-mile trip when finishing a close-up third to Misternando and Scott's View at Musselburgh in November.

Misternando was subsequently considered good enough to run in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup, while Scott's View has been nothing short of a revelation, picking up well over £300,000 in prize-money both here and in Dubai and Singapore.

In anyone's book that is top-notch form and at ante-post odds of 16-1 or better with most of the major firms, I consider Collier Hill to represent fantastic each-way value in the Newcastle showpiece. In such a knife-edge contest the dangers to the selection are too numerous to list in full.

However the hot-favourite, Anak Pekan, an authoritative winner of the Chester Cup in May, warrants plenty of respect, together with ante-post gamble Escayola, who only has a featherweight to carry.

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