Nap of the Day: I’m Enchanted by Appleby’s Queen at Nottingham

It was good to be back among the winners on Wednesday, as Ten Pounds - advised at 9/4 - obliged in good style at Kempton after significant support in the market.

We go to Nottingham for the Nap of the Day on Thursday, eyeing one for the boys in blue.

Charlie Appleby has found an outstanding opportunity for ENCHANTED QUEEN, a beaten favourite on her first two starts, to get off the mark at the third attempt at Nottingham on Thursday.

The two-year-old daughter of Eclipse and Juddmonte winner Ghaiyyath went to Newmarket in August for her racecourse debut armed with a lofty reputation - so much so she was sent off 5/4f against a previous winner.

That rival, the 91-rated Inis Mor for David Menuisier, obliged with a degree of comfort, finishing just shy of two lengths clear of the selection, who put almost three lengths between herself and the rest of the field.

Unsurprisingly, she was even stronger in the betting at Sandown a month later, going off 4/7f against a relatively modest field. Disappointingly, she again failed to reward that support.

It was another Menuisier inmate, Sea The Storm, who landed the spoils in Surrey. Enchanted Queen was two-and-a-half lengths adrift in third.

There's no sugar-coating it, that was a lacklustre effort. The form is average, and there was no hard-luck story.

I do believe she hated the ground, though. Conditions weren't great, and it all looked like hard work for Enchanted Queen.

If a return to a sounder surface - it's currently good to soft, good in places at Nottingham and there's no rain in the forecast - sees her return to her previous level, or improves on it which she's more than entitled to do, I expect her to prove very hard to beat in this company.

Ralph Beckett's Lady Roisia will have her supporters. Her third on debut behind Rockfel winner Zanthos and Touleen at Leicester last month looks good at face value, but the former was extremely green and ultimately Lady Roisia was beaten nearly six lengths.

She might be better judged on her two-and-a-half length margin to Blue Samuna, who trailed the selection by over four lengths at Newmarket.

Willow Wood needs to improve significantly on what she showed at Haydock on debut, while rank outsider Dream Of Ithacaa is extremely difficult to advise.

So unless one of the three newcomers - namely Harriet Quimby, Littlecote and Scarlet Letter - is well above average, this can go to Enchanted Queen and William Buick, who rides for the first time. It's also his only engagement of the day. A tip in itself?

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