NAP of the Day: Elliott juvenile makes strong appeal on Sunday

Jumps racing dominates Sunday's schedule and it's to Listowel I go for the NAP of the Day - a potentially exciting recruit to the National Hunt ranks for leading trainer Gordon Elliott.

Listowel's seven-day Harvest Festival begins on Sunday with an interesting three-year-old hurdle over two miles.

In recent years, Gordon Elliott has sent a nice juvenile here. He did so last season with Woodhoh, who won this and her following four starts, including a couple of Listed events.

The Cullentra handler relies on ZAYNAB this time, who ticks plenty of boxes.

She's a half-sister to highly-rated stablemate Zanahiyr and the once-raced Zariyyann who bolted up by 19 lengths on his hurdling debut, and she fetched €82k (£68k) back in September 2022.

That on top of her trainer's history in the race is appealing enough, but her Flat exploits confirms much of the promise of her profile.

The daughter of Phoenix Of Spain got off the mark at the second attempt at the Curragh in April, beating a subsequent winner for Aidan O'Brien, before taking a handicap at the same venue off an opening mark of 82 the following month.

She then went to Royal Ascot for the Sandringham Stakes and ran a fine race off 88, finishing just under 10 lengths off the pace in 12th (of 30).

Clearly, this is a talented filly - and I have no concerns about her jumping being up to scratch given where she hails from.

The selection receives over a stone from Joseph O'Brien's Terriferma, who's burdened by a double penalty. He looks vulnerable under these circumstances.

Action Plan is the main danger in my book. He should improve from a decent debut, but he may just bump into one here that we could just see in a race like the Boodles come the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Boy, does it feel good to be able to mention the C-word again.

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