Nap of the Day: Henderson’s 15/8 Queen can rule at Sandown

Despite being friendless in the market, Wednesday's Nap of the Day obliged (just about) to put me right back in business following a short break. Lovely.

Can we do the double? I've got high hopes about this talented mare in the feature race at Sandown on Thursday.

The Jane Seymour Mares' Novices' Hurdle has been won by some nice types in recent years - including subsequent Cheltenham Festival heroines Love Envoi and You Wear It Well in 2022 and 2023 respectively - and Nicky Henderson's HOLLOWAY QUEEN can be the latest name on the list.

The five-year-old daughter of Jukebox Jury looked above average when winning a maiden hurdle on rules debut at Lingfield back in November, but it was at Haydock a month later that she marked herself as a potential Graded performer.

Under a confident Nico de Boinville, the £180k purchase surged 15 lengths clear of the now 118-rated Keyla Wood, who had My Kiwi Girl (107), Millie Supreme (111) and Fromheretoeternity (116) further adrift, to claim Listed honours.

It was an impressive performance in testing conditions and it seems she's been targeted at this Grade 2 contest over 2m4f ever since.

A five-pound penalty makes Thursday's task a little more difficult, but she is rated six pounds inferior to her main market rival Hollygrove Cha Cha, so she could be capable of defying it.

Jamie Snowden's mare has lost just one of five starts under rules, to Paul Nicholls' Jubilee Alpha, so she's not dismissed lightly, but her form isn't comparable to the selection's at this point in time. She's also more exposed and presumably open to less improvement.

Mummy Derry is an interesting runner. Willie Mullins' five-year-old journeys across the Irish Sea and that should always warrant respect. At the same time, her bumper form is nothing special and she's being thrown straight into the deep end on hurdling debut.

Blue Las and That'll Do Moss both won last time out - the former by a wide margin - and aren't without a chance, but they'll need to improve a fair amount to win this providing Holloway Queen runs to form.

She wasn't given a Mares' Novices' Hurdle entry so won't be emulating the aforementioned Envoi Allen and You Wear It Well by winning both races, but she may still turn up at the Cheltenham Festival as she keeps her entry in the Turners Novices' Hurdle. If she's to line up in that, she has to be dealing with these rivals in no uncertain terms.

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