ADRIAN MAGUIRE'S steely determination finally carried the brilliant Irishman past the 1,000- winner mark last week and more of the same will be required at Market Rasen today, where conditions promise to be nothing less than desperate.

Maguire picks up the cudgels aboard Misty Ramble (2.55), a horse with the stamina necessary to cope with a marathon trip in excess of 3 miles for the Holly Berry Handicap Chase.

Misty Ramble was not quite 100 per cent fit when narrowly beaten by 20-1 shot One More at Kelso recently, but with the benefit of that outing under his belt I reckon he can now turn the tables on Chris Grant's representative.

In the preceding Robert Peak Handicap Chase Donnybrook (2.25) must be high on any discerning backer's short-list.

Bob Woodhouse's handsome gelding struggled against some useful opponents on his first two starts this term prior to being dropped in class and finishing third at Catterick 12 days ago.

Donnybrook's confidence will have received a major boost as a result of finishing in the frame and it's not hard to envisage him getting his head back in front in a relatively substandard event.

The mud will also be flying at Leicester, not that it is of any concern to Precious Island (2.35), who cannot have the ground deep enough.

The selection is not blessed with a turbo-charged finishing kick, but he does possess the ability to maintain a relentless gallop when the going gets tough.

If further proof is required, Precious Island demonstrated his mettle in identical conditions over track and trip last January, when coming home 12 lengths clear of Black Bullet.

Tellion's attempt to capture the closing Conditional Jockey's Handicap Hurdle for the second year in succession could well be thwarted by the Official Handicapper since the John Jenkins trained raider has a whopping 14lb more to shoulder this time round.

Moving much further down the ratings' scale the lightly-weighted ex-course and distance scorer, Harem Scarem (3.35), might be worth a small investment on account of his known prowess around the ultra-stiff right-handed track.

Punters don't normally go too far wrong when siding with Paul Nicholls and Timmy Murphy at Wincanton - a situation likely to remain unchanged since the pair front a powerful raiding party to the west country venue.

They kick off with Santenay in the opening Yeovil Juvenile Novices' Hurdle over two miles.

Santenay makes his first appearance in the UK, having shown tremendous promise when runner-up at Clairfontaine in early August. In the past it has been unwise to ignore the claims of such classy French imports and no doubt Nicholls will have the three-year-old fully wound up for his British debut.

Murphy and Nicholls also team up in later races with Cresswell Native (1.40) and Satshoon (3.15).

The latter is seeking to redeem himself after a dismal effort when, despite being made favourite, he was pulled up at Stratford in November. It's an outing probably best ignored for the purposes of the feature event on the card, the £7,500 Silver Buck Chase.