Nap of the Day: 10/1 Jila the one for me on Friday

Following back-to-back winners over the last 48 hours, we're on a hat-trick going into Friday - and it's to the home of National Hunt racing we turn for a long-priced Nap of the Day.

At last year's Showcase Meeting, JILAIJONE finished runner-up to Paul Nicholls' Blueking d'Oroux in the Masterson Holdings Hurdle that Bottler'secret is strongly fancied to win on Saturday.

Despite a 20lb difference in ratings, David Pipe's gelding was only a couple of lengths behind that rival off level weights - and it's fair to say the form's been franked since.

Blueking d'Oroux claimed Grade 2 honours on his subsequent start, earning a revised mark of 148, before emerging with credit in the G1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot around Christmas time. He also gave a good account of himself in the G2 Select Hurdle at Sandown this April following a layoff.

Jilaijone was put up seven pounds for that and subsequently acquitted himself well behind a couple of useful rivals - namely Gin Coco and Faivoir - in a handicap at Ascot the following month.

His form petered out after that. He was pulled-up in a competitive affair at Sandown in December, before a lacklustre effort in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury - and while a slight improvement there wasn't much to shout about regarding his appearance at Fakenham a month later.

I'm prepared to forgive all three of those runs. Two of them were on heavy ground which I don't believe suits this horse, and the other was his seventh of the campaign, which started in September. That's a long time to be on the go.

He's freshened up over the summer and comes here off a much-reduced mark of 119 - just a pound higher than when he came second to Blueking d'Oroux. Jockey Gearoid Harney also takes off a further six, which is worth a lot in these conditional jockeys' races.

If Jilaijone can recapture his form from early last season, he is undoubtedly well-handicapped and with conditions very much in his favour, he can outrun his odds and then some.

My selection is on the nose, but I couldn't put anyone off playing for places with Betfred offering four instead of three at 1/5 the odds for all each-way bets.

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