Nap of the Day: Unexposed mare appeals at odds-against

It felt as if luck wasn't on my side last week, which culminated in both my Scottish Grand National tips departing within seven fences and Saturday's Nap of the Day finding all sorts of bother in running.

But it's a new week and I'm hoping this jumper at Southwell can get us off to a flyer.

Nicky Henderson looks to have found a good opportunity for KIENTZHEIM to return to winning ways at Southwell on Tuesday.

The JP McManus-owned five-year-old, who was bought after winning two of three bumpers for Armand Lefeuvre in France, made the perfect start to life on these shores by landing a two-mile maiden hurdle at Kempton just over half-an-hour after the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day.

That form hasn't worked out very well, so perhaps the market was expecting too much when she was beaten at 6/5f in a novice event at Newbury in February.

It wasn't a bad effort, though. She was only receiving three pounds from her male rivals - including the 128-rated Rubber Ball for Neil King and Paul Nicholls' Tutti Quanti who hacked up at Ffos Las the other week following his sixth in the Supreme at the Cheltenham Festival - and was hard enough on herself during the early stages of the contest.

The half-sister to stablemate Joyeuse, who landed the valuable William Hill Hurdle at Newbury on the same day of the selection's visit to the Berkshire venue, has enjoyed 66 days off the track in the meantime and hopefully she's done plenty of maturing.

If she isn't so hard on herself this time, she ought to take plenty of beating on Tuesday.

She receives stacks of weight from her main market rivals Serious Challenge and Sorceleur. Twelve pounds, to be precise.

The former is unexposed and on a hat-trick so commands plenty of respect, but his form could have worked out better too and it's a lot of weight to give to a mare with high potential.

Sorceleur is already rated inferior to the selection and is very exposed for a five-year-old, while John Barbour has been operating in significantly easier company than this. Monticello has it all to do and can't be advised.

I think Kientzheim has an outstanding chance here and she represents value for as long as she'd odds-against.

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