NAP of the Day: Queen Tamara to rule over Ascot rivals

Chester's May Festival reaches a conclusion on Friday - as long as the watering can stays in the shed - but there's a good card at Ascot that's caught my attention.

I've singled out one in the opener in Berkshire that I'm hoping will be responsible for NAP of the Day followers returning to the winners' enclosure.

If ready to rock on her return, QUEEN TAMARA has as good a chance as any of winning the opener at Ascot on Friday.

Fitness is key, for I have no doubt that Harry Charlton's three-year-old is ahead of the handicapper. By quite a way, too.

The daughter of Space Blues, who fetched 135k guineas as a yearling in October 2024, made a modest start to her career at Newmarket last June, before a much-improved effort at Doncaster the following month.

She was runner-up to James Ferguson's Flash Of Fire, sent off 8/11f under Oisin Murphy, at Donny, and just shy of two lengths clear of the rest of the field.

It was a case of third time lucky for Queen Tamara, who opened her account at Chepstow in August, beating the Ed Walker-trained Jeddaal, another odds-on shot, by a length-and-a-quarter. The rest of the field were over seven-and-a-half lengths adrift on this occasion.

The winner was a bit of an eye-catcher on handicap debut off a mark of 80 at the Betfred St Leger Festival at Doncaster next time out, and the Lope De Vega colt made a winning start to his three-year-old campaign at Catterick last month. Good form in my book.

But the standout piece of form on the selection's CV, and the one I really want to focus on, is her narrow defeat in a fillies' nursery handicap at Newmarket in September.

She was just touched off by one for Hamad Al Jehani and Wathnan Racing, called Quiescent, who's gone on to frank the form and then some.

The son of Pinatubo, who was in receipt of four pounds at HQ despite a superior rating, won off five pounds higher (essentially 10 after losing his jockey's claim) over course and distance the following month before bolting up in a Listed event at Saint-Cloud. He's rated 104 today.

Just Call Me Angel, who was just shy of two lengths behind the selection in third, is 2-2 in the meantime, winning a Group 2 and Group 3 at San Siro in Italy. She's gone up 13lbs in the handicap.

So, a rise of just four pounds for Queen Tamara looks rather lenient, doesn't it? I suspect she's got about seven pounds in hand, if not more.

I don't think any of her rivals are in the same boat. Albaydaa, if I had to choose one, but I'm unconvinced about Colori Forever and May Angel. They're good horses, of course they are, but I doubt they're all that far ahead of the handicapper.

I'll reiterate, I do fear the lack of a recent run will catch us out. Harry Charlton hasn't made the strongest start of the season, so we might need it, but at the prices it's worth chances, for as far as I'm concerned she'd have a favourite's chance if at 100%.

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