HARCHIBALD bounced back to his brilliant best to land a second WBX.COM Fighting Fifth'' Hurdle at Newcastle for Noel Meade and Paul Carberry.

The eight-year-old has been called some rude names due to his perceived tendency to find little under pressure, most notably in the 2005 Champion Hurdle.

But the 4-1 shot, winner of this race in 2004, raced with all of his old zest after a spell in the wilderness to win the first leg of the WBX.COM Triple Crown.

To land a £1m bonus he will have to win the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton and the big one at Cheltenham in March.

British Champion Hurdle hopes had rested with Alan King's Katchit, last season's Triumph Hurdle winner, who put his reputation on the line against older horses for the first time.

While he lost little in defeat in finishing third, he had no answer to Harchibald's class. Al Eile stayed on gamely for second, a length and three-quarters in arrears.

I'm absolutely thrilled that he's back,'' said Meade, who had elected to saddle his runners at Fairyhouse rather than travel to Newcastle.

He had a nightmare last season and he was in a mood that he had been in training for so long without running.

But I knew after his run at Dundalk the other day that he had his old swagger back.

I have never loved a horse as much as this fellow and he could meet (stablemate) Jazz Messenger now in the Christmas Hurdle.'' Carberry was full of praise for his partner.

I was a bit short of room turning in but I knew I had so much horse under me that I was never worried,'' said Carberry.

He jumps three times quicker than any other horse, which is a massive advantage. He felt every bit as good today - if not better - than he did three years ago.'' Robert Thornton was still pleased enough with Katchit's performance, despite him finishing outside the first two for the first time over hurdles.

I've no excuses, I was going as fast as I was ever going to go at the last and the other two were going better,'' said Thornton.

We've still got every right to go for the Champion Hurdle and I won't mind riding him wherever he goes.'' Bet 365 were suitably impressed by the winner to cut him to 6-1 from 16s for the Cheltenham showpiece, while Katchit is the same price from 9-2.

Totesport go 10-1 about Harchibald with Katchit out to 7- 1 from 4s. Paddy Power are 7-1 about the winner.

Nicky Richards was a relieved man that nobody fancied buying Harmony Brig at the sales in May after the 14-1 chance landed the valuable WBX.COM Rehearsal Chase. The eight-year-old has always been highly thought of at Greystoke but was beginning to become disappointing.

As a result, stable jockey Tony Dobbin made way in favour of number two Brian Harding, with the thinking being the latter was likely to ride him all year.

The plan worked a treat as Harding sat way off a stiff pace to swoop late and beat Aleron by two lengths.

That was the first time he has tried three miles so I suppose the better ground helped him today,'' said Richards.

He can be a bit of a monkey and has a funny head-carriage and Tony deserves a lot of credit for the work he has done.

But we just thought that Tony might be elsewhere most days this season, so we decided to go with Brian for the season.

We had him in the Doncaster sales in May and nobody wanted to buy him, thankfully!'' Keith Reveley hailed Tazbar (4- 11 favourite) as the best he has trained following a bloodless victory in the WBX.Com The French Furze'' Novices' Hurdle.

Second on his hurdling debut only seven days earlier at Haydock, he was dropped in grade and beat Innominate by a distance under Phil Kinsella.

George Moore was excited by the performance of All For The Cause in the EBF/Gosforth Decorating & Building Services National Hunt'' Maiden Qualifier.

The 15-8 chance quickened up in fine style for Barry Keniry between the third-last and secondlast flights to beat odds-on favourite Berwick Law by two and a half lengths.

He was as keen as mustard in his first bumper, otherwise he would have won that," said Moore. "He settled better today and Barry said he will be even better in a strongly-run race.'' Harry Hogarth's Shrewd Investor (5-4 favourite) won the WBX.COM Novices' Chase, a race taken by subsequent Aintree winner Aces Four last season.