PREPARE to be bowled over by Lady Cricket (2.15) in this afternoon's star-studded £150,000 King George V1 Chase at Kempton.

It's not often punters get the chance to back any horse trained by Martin Pipe and ridden by Tony McCoy at double-digit odds, but barring a last-minute flood of cash the progressive six-year-old mare looks likely to go off at 10-1 or better for the south London showpiece.

The "King George" is one of the few major National Hunt prizes to have so far eluded the five-times champion jockey McCoy, who said of his charge: "I'm quite happy to be riding Lady Cricket. She can be a moody little thing, but when she's good, she's very good."

McCoy's mount showed dramatic improvement when landing the Thomas Pink Gold Cup at Cheltenham in November, and it's probably worth forgiving her latest fourth to King's Road in the Hennessy at Newbury where the trip was simply too far.

Given the known strength of the opposition, an each-way wager is advised on Lady Cricket, whose prospects I believe might have been seriously underestimated by many of leading layers.

The Paul Nicholls-trained See More Business, bidding for his third win in the race, has been installed a warm ante-post favourite at around 5-4 with the majority of the leading layers.

However, don't be surprised if French ace First Gold eventually goes off as market leader because the Gallic raider's twenty-one-year-old pilot, Thierry Doumen, has recently been hyping up his partner's chances with a series of upbeat bulletins from across the Channel.

In the preceding two-mile Handicap Hurdle, Mary Reveley's Torso (1.40) can strike a blow for the North-East by snatching the near £11,000 purse.

Despite having won with consummate ease at Newcastle and Huntingdon, an extremely shrewd piece of placing early on in Torso's career has ensured the five-year-old will be in receipt of weight from all 13 of his southern-based rivals.

Although only five go to post for the £35,000 Castleford Chase at Wetherby, the crowd are still in for a real treat as the quintet represent some of the premier two-mile chasers in the land.

Howard Johnson's stable-star Direct Route heads the weights, however he'll have to bounce back from a lack lustre display on his seasonal comeback at Cheltenham.

Last year's runner-up, Aghawadda Gold, nearly always needs at least one outing prior to hitting peak fitness, while Celibate has yet to show his best form at the track.

This leaves Davoski and Function Dream (1.30), with preference marginally for the latter, a revelation since being dropped back in distance.

The £20,000 Supermaster Handicap Chase is another hard-to-solve affair with a difficult choice to be made between the likes of Inn At The Top, Misty Class, Churchstanton and Heidi III.

The awesome Churchstanton (2.40) gets my vote having pulverised Narrow Water and Shooting Light over course and distance last time out, completing a superb hat-trick in the process

Sedgefield are expecting a bumper crowd for their six-race fixture and as a consequence course officials have appealed to racegoers to arrive in plenty of time for the scheduled 1pm start.

The best prize of the day is down to the Rent Roll Cup, run over a stamina-sapping three-miles-and-three-furlongs.

Two of the principals, Red Emperor and Inch Way (2.00), lock horns once again having finished first and second respectively when the pair clashed over three miles at Newcastle a month ago.

Inch Way was arguably unlucky on that occasion having apparently been in command only to give the final fence the sort of wallop Lennox Lewis would have been proud of.

Young Vinny Keane has already won plenty of admirers with his tidy riding style seen to good effect several times this term aboard Arcticaldi (2.30), fancied to end a frustrating series of placed efforts in the Final Chase of the Year Handicap.

And in the next on the card, John Norton's Squandamania (3.00), not disgraced when fifth at Newcastle on Thursday, makes plenty of appeal for the Christmas Cracker Handicap Hurdle.

The seven-year-old, successful at the track in February, needs to be held up for a late run, a task left in the capable hands of the tactically adept Nial Hannity.

Bookies' at Ayr beware of the impending arrival of Tony Dobbin and Len Lungo, fresh from a sparkling four-timer at Newcastle last Wednesday.

The in-form duo could easily repeat the feat via Direct Access (12.25), Valigan (1.25), Beaver Run (3.10), and The Phair Crier (3.40).

For the nap selection I am looking for a decent priced winner in the shape of Kathakali (3.15) at Wolverhampton.

Simon Dow's sand specialist deserves compensation after being nailed right on the wire by the smart Culzean earlier in the month