GATFLAX (2.05) looks the safest bet at Catterick this afternoon on a mammoth card guaranteed to warm the bookies' hearts rather than line the punters' pockets.

Six of the seven races have 15 runners or more, making winner finding nigh on impossible. But in the case of Gatflax he faces just nine rivals for the Hector Christie Memorial Novices' Chase.

Andy Turnell's nine-year-old, who changed hands for a whopping 200,000 guineas a couple of years ago, holds the dubious distinction of not having won for his current connections since the deal was done.

Various problems, including breaking blood vessels, have not helped Gatflax's cause. But at Sedgefield on Boxing Day there was a hint that the drought might finally have come to end as he showed at least a glimmer of his old form to chase home the progressive Arctictaldi.

Twenty-one horses face the starter for the opening Halifax Novices' Hurdle, including Racing North ten-to-follow pick Indian Venture (12.30).

Sadly his trainer Nicky Richards is having a lean time, although if Indian Venture does come back to the sort of mood he was in when slamming Pats Gesture in a bumper at Musselburgh in 1999, then the gelding should be in with a shout.

It's not often Adrian Maguire and Jonjo O'Neill team up, a pointer not to be missed for Colonial Rule (1.35) in the Bradford Juvenile Selling Hurdle.

Ridden on his latest start by John Kavanagh, the latter was admittedly a shade disappointing, having attracted a stack of cash when second to Fliquet Bay at Doncaster.

With the vastly more experienced Maguire now booked, I get the feeling this event has been carefully plotted as something of a retrieval mission.

Up front and out of trouble is a ploy likely to pay dividends in the positively overcrowded Ikley Handicap Chase.

One individual capable of side-stepping the certain grief is the imposing figure of Castletown Count (3.10), known in the past to force the pace, and partnered by the canny operator Alan Dempsey.

Mick Ryan, fresh from success in yesterday's Showcase Handicap with Young Un at Wolverhampton, has every prospect of repeating the dose this time over jumps via The Extra Man (2.15) at Kempton.

Robert "Chocolate" Thornton had to be at his strongest to heave Ryan's improving hurdler home at Cheltenham, just getting the better of Persian Waters in a protracted head-to-head duel from the final flight.

Sensibly, The Extra Man has been given a couple of months to recover from those exertions, which incidentally cost him a further 7lb hike up the weights, despite only scoring by a neck!

Horse racing rather than football now takes up all of Mick Quinn's time, and he is represented by Roi de Danse (12.20) in the opening division one of the Basil Selling Stakes at Lingfield.

Quinn does exceptionally well with his small Lambourn-based team, particularly on the sand. Rio de Danse loves nothing more than to bowl along in front, a manoeuvre jockey Franny Norton will doubtless employ from his relatively low draw.

Charge (1.25) is an apt name for the nap selection in the China Classified Stakes.

Karl Burke's confirmed front-runner has the speed to leave a bunch of mediocre rivals for dead, especially from the favoured number one stall.

l Ballinclay King was yesterday confirmed as an intended runner in the Cantor Index 'Dipper' Novices' Chase at Newcastle on Saturday.

Ferdy Murphy's exciting prospect has won two of his three starts over fences, the one blot coming when he finished third at Carlisle on his penultimate outing, having almost refused to start.

The seven-year-old is being campaigned with the Arkle Trophy in mind but is being stepped up to two and a half miles for the first time over fences here.

Murphy said: ''He's very, very well at the moment, I couldn't be happier with him and he goes for the Dipper on Saturday.

''The track is right, so is the trip - everything will suit.

''Adrian (Maguire) always felt that he'd be better going over a trip.

''He's got plenty of gears and I think eventually he'll stay three miles but he's still on target for the Arkle.'