PATRICK HASLAM currently holds a strong hand with his juvenile hurdlers, spearheaded by Wetherby-bound Dan's Heir (1.30).

Most jumpers are given at least a fortnight between races, however Dan's Heir took precious little out of himself when coasting to a facile victory at Fakenham last Monday.

In such circumstances it's not surprising Haslam comes back to the table so quickly, especially while his horse is red-hot and clearly wanting to get on with the job.

On the downside, having previously also prevailed at Market Rasen, Dan's Heir must shoulder a double penalty in the opening £5250 EBF Poster Plus Novices' Hurdle.

The extra weight is obviously a cause for concern, although thankfully it's somewhat offset by the talented claiming jockey Patrick Merrigan's handy 5lbs allowance.

The Rocom Samsung Beginners' Chase looks easy picking for Tighten Your Belt (2.35), by far and away the highest rated horse in the five runner line up.

The Venetia Williams trained nine-year-old couldn't match the final furlong surge from Martin Pipe's classy Lough Derg at Exeter, nonetheless he still had another live Cheltenham Festival contender, Bob Bob Bobbin, back in third.

Despite the fact John Wade's stable have, generally speaking, been out of luck recently, the tide might well be on the turn if Stormy Lord (3.05) can land the feature event on the card, the £10,000 Racecourse & Conference Centre Handicap Hurdle.

Stormy Lord, who won a steeplechase off a rating of 119 at Kelso last term, is a full 9lbs lower over the smaller obstacles, a telling statistic from which it's able to deduce he's nicely in at the weights for the two-miler.

With heavy ground on the agenda for the afternoon's sport, the track is probably going to resemble a ploughed field by the time Ile Maurice steps out in the closing Mares' Only Novices Hurdle.

Ile Maurice (4.10) has twice handled similar testing underfoot conditions at Newcastle and Sedgefield, each time pulling right away from her rivals to score in scintillating style.

On the evidence of those impressive wins Ferdy Murphy's six-year-old is very much on the upgrade, which combined with the brilliant P J McDonald doing the steering, should ensure she completes her hat-trick with the minimum of fuss.

Over the border in Scotland, Corrib Lad (1.40) bids to right one wrong by taking the Giles Insurance Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Chase.

Late last month Corrib Lad seemingly had an almost identical contest in his grasp, only to crash out of contention with a sloppy mistake at the second fence from the finish.

Bruce Gibson was in the saddle that day, but he's since retired and made way for Gary Berridge, who has a great chance of supplementing Corrib Lad's earlier Hexham triumph, provided the partnership remain intact.

Having opened his account with a sparkling success on a visit to Sedgefield in November, Charlie Tango (3.50) then went to the other extreme with a diabolical effort at Fakenham the following month.

Something must surely have been seriously amiss with David Thompson's gelding, an untimely reverse Charlie Tango is expected to correct in the two mile Johnstone Waterfront Handicap Hurdle.

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