HOLD your breath and cross your fingers. It's D-Day for Barton on Tuesday, as the all-important Cheltenham Festival draws nigh.

The pride of Ryedale heads into battle on the opening day of National Hunt racing's version of the Olympics as he bids to strike gold in the £125,000 Irish Independent Arkle Chase.

Regular rider Tony Dobbin will be in the hot-seat aboard the Tim Easterby-trained gelding, whose four wins over fences this season have been achieved by a staggering aggregate of 83 lengths.

On Tuesday, however, he will be moving up to the premier division to take on the cream of the current novice chasing crop from Britain and Ireland. Most of the major bookmakers make him a solid second-favourite at around 5-1 behind the Martin Pipe-trained Seebald, winner of all his seven races this season.

"He's grand - in good form," reports Easterby, as Barton bids to bridge a 19-year gap for the Habton Grange stables.

In 1983, Peter Easterby, Tim's legendary father, won his third Arkle Chase with Ryeman, who was following in the hoofprints of Clayside (1981) and Alverton (1978). So how does the current star compare?

"Barton," says Easterby snr, "would be a better horse than any of my three Arkle winners. He'd be different class, and that's definite."

Coming from a man who trained no fewer than 13 Cheltenham Festival winners, a tally which includes two Gold Cup and a record five Champion Hurdles, such a decisive opinion commands the utmost respect.

Barton, is, of course, no stranger to the festival. Three years ago, he crowned a magnificent unbeaten campaign, which comprised seven wins, with a fluent victory in the Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle.

Those successes were achieved in the hands of Lorcan Wyer, but since the retirement of Easterby's long-standing stable-jockey, the ride on Barton has fallen to Tony Dobbin.

The Cumbrian pilot is a real favourite with Sir Stanley Clarke, owner of Barton, ever since they won the Martell Grand National together with Lord Gyllene in 1997.

Dobbin, who enjoyed an association earlier in his career with the ultra-popular One Man, says that Barton possesses many of the qualities of that top-notch performer.

He said: "The way Barton travels through a race and the gears he's got, reminds me very much of One Man. He's a lovely horse to ride and you can put him anywhere in a race."

Putting him in front when it matters is Dobbin's aim soon after 2.35pm next Tuesday.

Winner of 13 races and some £240,000 in prize money, Barton is the big Ryedale hope for Cheltenham. All eyes will be on him as he bids to strike an Olympic gold - National Hunt style.

Tom O'Ryan is a staff writer with the Racing Post.

Updated: 11:22 Thursday, March 07, 2002