NAP of the Day: Sunray to shine for soaring Skeltons on Sunday

Our expert has selected a Dan Skelton runner, who is on an upward trajectory and could prove hard to beat in the feature, as his NAP of the Day.

The selection is unbeaten over fences thus far and will be bidding to extend his unblemished record to 3-3.

Nine runners have been declared for the Class 2 Sheila And Wayne Golden Wedding Anniversary Handicap Chase and finding the winner will be no easy task, as five of them managed to win last time out, so this race looks set to be a thoroughly competitive affair.

There’s no one better at taking all the good summer prize money than champion trainer Dan Skelton and his runner SUNRAY SHADOW can take home the substantial first prize. Extremely progressive of late, the seven-year-old is 4/5 since the start of the season.

He made his debut in a bumper at Warwick back in May 2024 and got off the mark over hurdles at the second time of asking, claiming an Aintree maiden in October of that year. Good ground is very important to him and any mention of soft is massive negative.

With the ground conditions set to be good here, there should be no problem on that front and he can win more races before the handicapper catches up. It took him a while to get to grips with handicap but he returned to winning ways in a Class 3 event over hurdles in May.

Horse Racing Odds

Connections then sent him over fences for the first time at Worcester on his next start and he took well to the larger obstacles, winning by just shy of three lengths. He returned to hurdles on his next start and narrowly got the better of the veteran American Mike.

Suffering a first defeat of the season over hurdles here earlier this month, he was a little below-par on that occasion but left that run behind him when getting back on track in a course and distance novice handicap. An extra 4lb wouldn’t have stopped him that day.

The in-form Bagheera Ginge shouldn’t be ruled out, as he was a very easy winner at Stratford when last seen, although this race looks much harder. Grand Clermont won well at Perth when last seen and should be capable of running well once again on that evidence.

Imperial Alex won a decent prize over course and distance last time out but Dan Skelton’s gelding gets the nod and there should be plenty more to come from him.

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