Nap of the Day: Maldini to prove hard to pass at Newton Abbot

The National Hunt season is slowly but surely getting into gear, and I've got the bug!

My Nap of the Day for Friday comes from the afternoon's only jumps meeting, at Newton Abbot.

I enjoy both codes, but I can't deny a preference for the jumps - so seeing the likes of Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton at Newton Abbot on Friday gets the blood pumping.

The second race on the card in Devon is a maiden hurdle over 2m5½f, which the market suggests is a match between Maldini Milano and A Pai De Nom for Nicholls and Skelton respectively.

On what they achieved in bumpers last season, there's little to separate the pair, but I think there's good reason to expect MALDINI MILANO can get the better of Friday's exchange.

First of all, the Skeltons aren't exactly in the best of form at the moment. Dan's strike rate in the last 14 days is a lowly five percent, with just one winner from 21 runners.

His string appear to be lacking match-fitness at this early stage of the season, so I'm not expecting the best version of A Pai De Nom, who underwent wind surgery in June.

On the contrary, Nicholls - who saddled a 10/1 winner a fortnight ago - boasts a 40% strike rate (17/42) for the campaign so far.

His five-year-old son of Milan, who fetched €80k as a store in 2023, should therefore be fit and ready - as he was on debut last November, when bolting up by 14 lengths at Exeter.

Eighty two days later, he was tried in Listed company at Newbury but things didn't go to plan, at all. The yard was completely out of sorts at the time and he was reported to have stopped quickly with over five furlongs left to travel, finishing a whopping 134 lengths off the eventual winner.

That was clearly a one-off, though, for his second at Wincanton in March to a well-backed Fergal O'Brien inmate was much more like it.

He shaped like an obvious stayer that day, which is in line with his breeding. He's by Milan and out of a Shantou mare, so two-and-a-half to three miles should suit him down to the ground.

Under the excellent Harry Cobden, I envisage him setting off in front and proving tough to pass - just like his namesake, Il Capitano, was for 25 years at AC Milan. What a player.

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