Haydock Placepot picks: Paul Kealy provides his perm for the feature meeting

Master The Stars, who is likely to go off favourite in the Haydock opener (1.15), has to prove himself at 1m4f after a couple of weak finishes over a furlong shorter, so he could be one to oppose in the Placepot.

Labeebb, who ran well in a hot race at York last time, and Doubling Dice, a lightly raced course winner who returns after a wind operation, are the pair to take him on with.

Next up is a typically trappy Haydock sprint (1.45), but Cold Stare should run well in his bid to win the race for the second time. Don't leave out Air Raid, who goes well fresh and has won the last three times he has competed below Class 2 level.

With so much pace on show in the Achilles Stakes (2.20), I'll be hoping the leaders come back to the rest of the field. The two to concentrate on could be Count D'Orsay and Tarboosh, who shaped well on his first run back from a wind op last time.

Cabaletta will be hard to keep out of the frame in the leg four (2.55), while Njord and With Thanks are the two I like the most in the feature John of Gaunt Stakes (3.30).

There are plenty of promising horses in the closing three-year-old handicap (4.05), but Sir Maxi, who was just touched off on bad ground on his final run last season and has subsequently been gelded, makes a fair amount of appeal for Ralph Beckett and Tom Marquand.

He goes in with Blackrod, who was still green when well beaten on his final start last season and should progress well this year.