Paul Nicholls can take centre stage yet again at Cheltenham today courtesy of Dines. The Somerset jumps trainer has been hogging the limelight this season, having already annexed a string of good races with the likes of See More Business, Flagship Uberalles and Flaked Oats On the eve of his bid for the Murphy's Gold Cup with Call Equiname, he should make an early visit to the Prestbury Park winner's enclosure after the Mitsubishi Shogun Trophy.
Dines holds very strong claims for this two-mile handicap chase. He was a real money-spinner in his first season over fences in 1998/9, winning four times and running a blinder to finish second to the vastly more experienced Space Trucker in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase here.
And the seven-year-old ran a race full of promise when second on his recent reappearance at Ascot, giving best to the highly-regarded Get Real only as lack of peak fitness told after the final fence.
Dines should be spot-on today. Ireland's Linden's Lotto looks booked for a repeat of last year's win in the Sporting Index Chase. Tony Martin's raider is a specialist over this unusual cross-country course and can get the better of veteran McGregor The Third.
Compatriots Grimshaw and Experimental could also bring useful prizes back home. Grimshaw can defy top-weight in the BEFF Sydney 2000 Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle. He scooted up by 20 lengths in very testing conditions at Wexford last month.
Yet trainer Thomond O'Mara believes the four-year-old will be even better on a sounder surface - which makes him a very interesting contender with the going none too soft.
Experimental appeals in the Murphy's Irish Stout Novices' Hurdle, a two-mile "Showcase Handicap" in which the gruelling course is likely to expose stamina deficiencies in several runners.
The five-year-old has no worries on that score as he is a stayer on the Flat, and he was putting in his best work at the finish when streaking home a 10-length winner at Galway last month.
Trainer Ger Lynch is already eyeing the Ladbroke Hurdle for his improving five-year-old, who must go very close here if he is to justify a tilt at the big Leopardstown handicap in January.
Mary Reveley landed a treble at Sedgefield on Tuesday and she can continue her good run as racing returns to the north east at Newcastle.
Her useful hurdler Woodfield Gale is fancied to make a successful debut over fences in the Newcastle Flooring And Polyflor Novices' Chase.
Stable-companion Dragons Bay won four of his last five starts last season and looks set to pick up where he left off in the Border Minstrel Handicap Chase.
