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THE Grand National may still be two weeks away and the start of the flat season kicked off last weekend, but the national hunt campaign still has plenty of legs in between and the highlight this afternoon is the set of Challengers Series Finals at Haydock Park alongside the final of the Middle Distance Veteran’s Handicap Chase (3.15).

Let’s start with the last named over two-and-a-half miles, where 10 well-known names are set to line up headed by the mare Pink Legend, set to race off a mark of 136. The Venetia Williams-trained charge was not surprisingly well-beaten in the Mares Chase at Cheltenham Festival, but this is a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire here as she takes on the boys under her burden of 12 stone.

I fancy that there will be no shortage of pace on as Riders OnThe Storm (made most in a class two, two-mile handicap at Doncaster) and set to race off the same mark is likely to be at the sharp end along with Numitor and the old boy of the part Top Ville Ben.