Racing: Street can expose Mogul

DAVID NICHOLSON has said that whenever he wins a race with one of the horses he received from Jenny Pitman during the summer, Mrs Pitman makes a point of congratulating him. Everyone has their breaking point, however, and if Mighty Mogul wins his sixth off the reel at Cheltenham on Saturday, the Duke may find the hand of friendship fixed firmly around his neck.

The race Nicholson has chosen for the latest turn of the screw used to be known, quite happily, as the Bishops Cleeve Hurdle, but is now burdened with the ugly title of the Wyko Power Hurdle.

One of the first laws of modern bookmaking seems to be that quantity is far more important than quality, and as Mighty Mogul's winning sequence has continued, his Festival odds have been pared to the bone. On the real substance of his form, 3-1 and less is no sort of price, and it should cause little surprise if the former champion Morley Street runs him very close in next week's race, good ground permitting.

On the rest of what should be a most informative card, expect Another Coral to just about last home in the Timeform Hall of Fame Chase ahead of Cool Ground and Miinnehoma, with Kadi completing a Nicholson double in the Foodbrokers' Finesse Four-Year-Old Hurdle. At Doncaster, a 6lb penalty is unlikely to stop Very Very Ordinary in the Great Yorkshire Chase.

With so much in store at the weekend, midweek punting is best kept to a minimum, but Mr Setaside (3.00) should win at Leicester tomorrow and Cairncastle (2.20) has sound claims at Chepstow the following day.