ROYAL ROSA (3.10) holds every chance of maintaining a superb strike-rate by landing this afternoon's Haydock Park Graduation Chase.

Howard Johnson's chestnut has triumphed on seven of his 13 career starts, finished second on a further three occasions, plus cherry-picked one portion of third-place money just for good measure.

Very few thoroughbreds are capable of such sublime consistency but Royal Rosa demonstrated he's still going from strength-to-strength by slamming up-and-coming chaser L'Antartique at Wetherby this month.

Today he faces an even more mercurial rival in the shape of Crozen, however Royal Rosa's attacking style could unnerve the Nicky Henderson-trained raider, who has a tendency to fold under pressure once he knows the game is up.

Mud-slogging is the penchant of heavy ground-lover Blunham Hill, who will be in his element trying to capture The Last Fling Chase.

There are going to be some extremely tired horses at the end of the three-mile encounter, made all the more demanding by the severe nature of the fences, widely considered an ideal preparation for races such as the Grand National.

Blunham Hill (2.05) is no National contender but he's a really gutsy critter with a rock-solid track record, having jumped his way to victory at the course in the past.

If Calvic (1.35) is anywhere near straight on his return from a 181-day break, then the Bet365 Handicap Hurdle could be a cakewalk for Robert Lucey-Butler's mount.

Consider the facts. Calvic is a 129-rated chaser but gets in over the smaller obstacles off a mark of only 108, minus Lucey-Butler's claim of 5lbs, which, seeing as he's as good as a fully-fledged jockey, legitimately takes the combination down to 103.

Only a buffoon would fail to see the talented eight-year-old is nothing short of a handicap "good thing", unless he drifts in the betting market, which will indicate Calvic is short of peak fitness and therefore to be approached more cautiously.

Although the cupboard is pretty bare nowadays as far as trainer Tim FitzGerald is concerned, he could help himself to a touch of free publicity by scoring with Moment Of Madness in front of the Channel 4 cameras at Musselburgh.

The totesport Handicap Chase is the target for Moment Of Madness, who made a perfectly respectable Huntingdon reappearance when third to College Ace in what was a significantly stronger contest.

The same firm sponsor the closing two-mile Handicap Hurdle, a 0-135 event which has the sort of competitive edge guaranteed to pull in the punters and ensure a lively betting market.

Majorca and Saif Sareea, first and third respectively when they clashed over track and trip ten days ago, should once again be involved, though neither may cope with an on-song Millagros (3.25).

Ian Semple has been enjoying plenty of success on the all-weather circuit of late, a revealing stat which helpfully informs us his team are nice and healthy despite being in the depths of winter.

Attitude-wise Millagros generally impresses, whether she's operating on the Flat or over the sticks, a trait totally in evidence when the six-year-old mare battled on gamely to grab a course-and-distance second behind Pilca last time out.

Any snobbery about running horses on the all-weather tracks has long since evaporated, so much so that now and then a potentially useful customer like Leonard Charles (5.20) emerges from the woodwork.

When Newmarket handler Sir Mark Prescott sent Leonard Charles to Wolverhampton for his debut there wasn't a massive amount of market confidence behind the two-year-old, who nevertheless collected at odds of 13-2.

Sadly we'll get nothing like such a generous starting price for Prescott's juvenile on his return to the Midlands venue, where he's fully expected to follow up by bagging the seven-furlong Pontin's Family Holiday Nursery.

Uttoxeter are planning an 8.30am inspection this morning ahead of tomorrow's scheduled meeting.