SEDGEFIELD-BORN jockey Andrew Thornton faces a nail-biting helicopter dash this afternoon in his attempt to ride the big-race winners at both Haydock and Warwick, Kingscliff and Behrajan respectively.

Kingscliff (1.40) is first on stage at Haydock, where he is red-hot favourite to win the three-mile £60,000 Peter Marsh Chase.

Already as low as 5-1 for this year's Cheltenham Gold Cup, the unbeaten Robert Alner-trained rising star should provide Andrew with a triumphant start in what is shaping up to be a very lucrative day's business.

"If he's as good as we think everything will be spot-on," said Thornton, who has partnered the up-and-coming ex-west-country point-to-pointer on all three of his successes under Rules to date.

The Peter Marsh should be over by 2pm at the latest, which leaves around 45 minutes to go by chopper to Warwick to weigh out aboard Behrajan (3.05) in the richest race ever to be run at Warwick, the £110,000 Tote Classic Chase.

Just like Kingscliff, Behrajan has been talked of as a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup candidate. Disappointingly though, Henry Daly's gargantuan gelding hasn't quite lived up to those heady expectations, but that is not to say he couldn't still develop into a Grand National contender come next spring.

In the meantime, there is a monster pot to be picked up by Behrajan at the Midlands venue, where conditions should suit him down to a tee.

For starters, Thornton's mount has already won at the course before, proving he can handle the relatively tight bends and somewhat tricky undulations.

The lung-busting distance of three-miles-and-five-furlongs is also right up his street as the nine-year-old possesses the sort of relentless style of galloping most trainers would walk over broken glass for.

And last but not least, the fact he has to shoulder top-weight seems to have put some ante-post punters off the scent since all week he's been freely available at the positively mouth-watering odds of 6-1 with The Tote.

Weight, of course, is always one of the main factors in assessing such teasingly difficult handicaps. However, a touch of class is one of those hard-to-define traits which I believe Behrajan holds in spades compared with the majority of his rivals.

Back at Haydock, the Graham Wylie-owned Royal Rosa is fancied to follow in the footsteps of stable-mate Lord Transcend by winning the Premier Stayers' Hurdle.

Lord Transcend took the prize 12 months ago in the colours of the business owned by Wylie's wife, Transcend Hair & Beauty. Unfortunately the dashing grey has just suffered a setback and looks like being sidelined for the rest of season.

In fact it hasn't been the Wylies' week as another of their high-profile purchases, Flownaway, hit the neck at Musselburgh on Wednesday when on the brink of opening his account over hurdles at the first time of asking.

Wylie's policy of ensuring he has plenty of ammo to play with ensures he still has a strong hand with the likes of not only Royal Rosa, but also Warwick raiders Inching Closer (1.05) and Inglis Drever (2.35).

After being bought out of Jonjo O'Neill's stable, Wylie's trainer, Howard Johnson, wasted no time in getting the former Cheltenham Festival winning hurdler to grips with his new job over fences, the seven-year-old bolting up in a novices' chase at Newcastle in December.

Ex-flat handicapper Inglis Drever has yet to be taste defeat over hurdles, most recently slamming the highly-regarded Self Defense in the Grade 2 William Hill Winter Novices' Hurdle at Sandown.

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