THE early exit of Paris Pike in Saturday's Grand National must have been a bitter blow for Ferdy Murphy.

But the show must go on and at Kelso this afternoon he can at least look forward to a small measure of compensation via Khan Kicker (3.05).

Khan Kicker probably didn't stay 2 miles at Haydock last time and is better judged on his previous slick victory at Musselburgh over two miles.

Murphy's raider now reverts to that distance in the Cheviot Rentals Novices' Hurdle at the Borders track and should oblige, albeit at relatively cramped odds.

In the preceding Tennents Velvet Handicap Hurdle Noble Pasao (2.30) is a confident choice.

Tony Dobbin's mount had a spin on the level at Wolverhampton a couple of weeks ago, an outing that should have put Andy Turnell's five-year-old spot-on for the £5,000 contest.

A rubbish draw foiled ten-to-follow pick Cardinal Venture's prospects in the Spring Mile at Doncaster and he hasn't fared any better in stall five for the Showcase Handicap at Kempton.

High numbers are best over seven furlongs at the south London course and so preference is for the game front-runner Camberley (3.20) emerging from the 16 berth.

Mary Reveley doesn't have too many runners at the track, so the decision to send the well-handicapped Loop The Loup (4.55) south is a hint not to be missed in the CFBM Handicap.

Modest stuff at Wolverhampton, although Sand Hawk (4.05) might be worth a speculative wager in the Littewoods Bet Direct Handicap.

The Derek Shaw trained gelding made a pleasing reappearance at Catterick and judged on past performances he's even better when switched from the turf to the all-weather.

* A technical hitch with the Tote computers provided a nightmare for punters and bookmakers.

The main system that collates and returns dividends crashed yesterday, forcing the Tote to manually calculate the returns.

Tote spokesman Jeremy Scott said the system error had not affected placing bets but there were some delays in returning dividends.

He said: ''Punters can claim by sending their tickets to Tote House where our late payment department is and then we would forward on a cheque to them.