NAP of the Day: 7/4 Rodin to bounce back at Royal Ascot

It's the second day of Royal Ascot - find my through-the-card tips here - on Wednesday and once again my NAP of the Day comes from the Berkshire venue.

The feature race is the Prince Of Wales's Stakes and I fancy this 7/4 shot will take all the beating in it.

To say AUGUSTE RODIN blows hot and cold would be an understatement.

After a Group 1-winning juvenile campaign, the son of Deep Impact went into last season with Classic ambitions and then some. I remember Aidan O'Brien theorising about him completing the Triple Crown (2000 Guineas, Derby, St Leger).

Those dreams were soon shattered, though, as he beat just two rivals home in that year's 2000 Guineas, won by Chaldean, and the jury was well and truly out.

He then bounced right back to form by winning a good renewal of the Betfred Derby just under a month later. Hot and cold.

Irish Derby success followed, before another blowout - this time in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He came dead last at Ascot, a whopping 127 lengths behind the winner. Hot and cold.

In Auguste Rodin style, he left that effort well behind when landing the Irish Champion Stakes that September, before arguably a career-best triumph in the Breeders' Cup Turf to round off a superb but incredibly inconsistent year.

This term has gone similarly, although he is yet to win in two starts. The Dubai Sheema Classic was his trademark no-show, again beating nothing home, and his most recent effort when runner-up in the Tatterstalls Gold Cup at the Curragh was his return to form.

O'Brien is on record saying he was delighted with that performance, despite his colt ending up three lengths behind the winner White Birch. That suggests he'd left a lot to work on and that improvement should be evident on Wednesday.

For me, the question is whether the real Auguste Rodin shows up or not. I think he will, and that horse is more than capable of winning this race.

His closest rival according to the 16:25 Royal Ascot Odds is Inspiral, who is also exceptional on her day, but the five-year-old mare's latest effort was her worst yet and needs to be left a long way behind.

French raider Horizon Dore is talented but he'd struggle against a top-notch Auguste Rodin, especially on forecast quick ground. Meanwhile, Alflaila has a lot on her plate on her seasonal reappearance - and Blue Rose Cen and the other five runners have a bit to do going off the formbook.

Find our NAP of the Day here at Betfred Insights