DOUBLE HANDFUL

INCESSANT rain played havoc with yesterday’s cards as well as the transport links.

I waited almost an hour for a bus and then two floated past at once.

Today’s card at Newbury should go ahead as planned but the going has been described as heavy, heavier even than me after a sustained and determined festive eating campaign.

The feature is the Betfred Challow Novices Hurdle, a Grade 1 over two-and-a-half miles that has been won by the likes of Denman, Taquin De Seuil and Barters Hill in recent years.

Only six have been declared but it is still a competitive affair with four of the runners winning on their most recent outings.

I have just about resisted the temptation to back Dame Rose.

Richard Hobson’s charge has been in fine fettle, having won three of her last four races, with the most recent victory coming here at Newbury.

The four-year-old is getting the mares’ allowance, is a course winner and has won on heavy ground before — at Hexham back in October.

But the nagging doubt I can’t get out of my head is that she has run only over two miles before and that the extra halfmile today in extremely testing conditions could be her undoing. The ground certainly won’t be a problem for KILBRICKEN STORM.

Colin Tizzard’s six-year-old bagged the Grade 2 Albert Bartlett trial at Cheltenham a fortnight ago and has a terrific chance of going in again.

The concerns are two-fold, that this race is a half-mile shorter than his last outing and that he raced only 14 days ago. On heavy ground this trip will feel more like a three-mile slog and Tizzard says his star is old enough (at nearly seven) to handle the short turnaround between races.

In recent years we’ve seen four of the last nine market leaders win this race and I can see Kilbricken Storm having too much for his rivals today.