LUDLOW has escaped the worst of the rain, although I'm not sure it is all good news from a betting point of view since the resulting big fields technically hand the advantage to the bookies before proceedings have started.

But the winners of seven races are there to be found and Stopwatch (1.05) may prove a good place to start in the 2-mile Novices' Handicap Chase.

There are at least three sensible reasons for siding with Stopwatch. Firstly he ran a very solid race when runner-up on his recent chase debut over a similar distance at Fontwell.

Secondly, he's not badly in at the weights compared with his previous hurdles form, and thirdly, jockey Philip Hide is particularly adept at getting relatively inexperienced chasers round unscathed.

In the following Amateur Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle, Emily Jones gets the chance to further advertise her considerable talents aboard King Georges (1.35).

King Georges, a winner on the Flat in his native France, didn't take too long to open his British account when scooting to an impressive success at Wincanton last week.

John Tuck's five-year-old may well have the scope to defy his 7lb penalty, especially with Emily doing the steering around a course she generally rides to perfection.

Punters seeking a lively outsider in the Annual Member Chase should consider having a small interest on Hitchhiker (2.10) after running so well at Sedgefield recently.

Hitchhiker seems to have had all sorts of injury and jumping problems in the past, not to mention at least three different trainers. But he now appears to have happily settled down at Richard Ford's yard in Cheshire.

Richard's wife, Carrie, got a really good tune out of the nine-year-old when they teamed up to finish second to Micky Hammond's Hombre 24 days ago.

She didn't give Hitchthiker a hard time once the winner had flown that day, and I fancy them to reverse the placings with Hammond's Middleham raider in the £10,000 three-mile contest.

Milton Bradley is going through an unusually lean spell and has entered one of his stable stalwarts, Nineacres (1.45), in a lowly five-furlong Claiming Stakes at Wolverhampton.

The veteran 12-year-old sprinter has won countless races for Milton over the past few years and it would be a crying shame if he were to be snapped up by another trainer. However, there is always that possibility since, on the book, Nineacres is around 20lb superior to his 12 mainly out-of-sorts rivals.

Arguably the most consistent performer on the all-weather circuit to date this winter has been Lygeton Lad (2.50), bidding to win the seven-furlong Bet Direct Handicap.

Hardly ever out of the frame, Lygeton Lad is proving a real money-spinner for Gay Kelleway.

"Lygeton Lad doesn't take any training, he just does it out on the track," she reported.

Get more racing online at www.racing-north.co.uk.