Inglis Drever can provide big-spending owner Graham Wylie and his County Durham trainer Howard Johnson with a notable success at Sandown tomorrow.

The four-year-old, a prolific winner on the Flat for Sir Mark Prescott, and hugely impressive on his jumping bow at Aintree last month, goes for the feature race of the day, the £25,000 William Hill Winter Novices' Hurdle.

Wylie, a Newcastle-based tycoon who made a fortune as co-founder and managing director of software company Sage UK, left them this year and cashed in more than £120m of his shares.

He has since spent about £4m on a string of racehorses, his latest acqusition being top-notch steeplechaser Valley Henry, who was bought out of Paul Nicholls' yard earlier this week.

Inglis Drever, a 110,00 guineas buy at Newmarket's October Sales, looked a classy recruit to hurdling when he won by a wide-margin in a smart field at Aintree a fortnight ago.

He has more on his plate tomorrow, but I fancy the northern raider, in the hands of Graham Lee, will take the prize.

The Extra Man catches the eye in the williamhillcasino.com Novices' Handicap Chase.

A previous course winner, Mick Ryan's gelding will surely have benefitted from his recent comeback outing and it looks significant that Tony McCoy has taken the mount.

McCoy can also score on the interesting German-trained newcomer Little Valentine (1.30) and the talented but fragile Lannkaran (2.35).

Southwell, normally the setting for all-weather Flat racing at this time of the year, tomorrow stages a National Hunt meeting, and Forest Dante looks promising in the Golf and Racing at Southwell Handicap Chase.

The ten-year-old finished a creditable runner-up to Trusting Tom on this course last month when making his seasonal reappearance.

A reproduction of that form over this slightly shorter trip would probably be sufficient to see him go one better tomorrow. Kenny Johnson again has the mount on my Nap selection.

Forum Chris should not be overlooked in the Tote Exacta Handicap Hurdle over two and a half miles.

Unbeaten in three outings last season, Forum Chris represents the Bingley stable of Sue Smith, who is churning out winners with monotonous regularity this season.

Friday's tips:

Sandown

1.00 The Extra Man, 1.30 Little Valentine, 2.05 Inglis Drever, 2.35 Lannkaran, 3.10 Impek, 3.40 Chase The Sunset.

Southwell

12.50 Canon McCarthy, 1.20 Forest Dante (Nap), 1.55 Aelred, 2.25 Kindle Ball, 3.00 Forum Chris, 3.30 World Vision.

Exeter

12.35 Artemise, 1.10 Glen Warrior, 1.45 Keltic Bard, 2.15 Jolly Giant, 2.50 Bourbon Manhattan, 3.20 Whispering John, 3.30 Locksmith.

There are no other meetings tomorrow.

Updated: 12:34 Thursday, December 04, 2003