Nap of the Day: 11/4 filly out for more than just a stroll

Inspection season continues as both Hereford and Plumpton is under threat on Monday, so we cross the Irish Sea to Punchestown for the Nap of the Day.

The ironically-named OUT FOR A STROLL has shaped like a juvenile being geared towards the Fred Winter at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival this season.

Joseph O'Brien's four-year-old daughter of Churchill, sporting the famous green and gold silks of JP McManus, made her debut over hurdles at Gowran Park back in October and very much caught the eye, finishing a staying-on fifth from all the way out the back of the TV.

I took similar encouragement from her subsequent run at Galway exactly three weeks later. She travelled in mid-division this time, taking the widest route, and made good headway between the final two flights and plugging on into fifth, just over 10 lengths off the pace.

A change of tactics saw her lead for much of her third appearance at Punchestown in November and she appeared to have them all at it turning for home before making a mistake at the last and fading into fourth. Another promising run in defeat.

On Boxing Day, she was taken to Limerick and this time got off the mark in good style, travelling comfortably and just doing enough in front under seven-pound claimer Peter Smithers.

That form has been franked in the meantime. The runner-up, who was four lengths ahead of the selection at Galway, won nicely at Fairyhouse the other week and the fourth-placed Holy See, who had the rest of the field over eight lengths adrift, made Willie Mullins' €315k Triumph Hurdle hopeful work hard for his victory at Naas on Sunday.

I thought Out For A Stroll had a fair bit left under the bonnet the last day - and the Irish handicapper clearly agrees with me as they raised her eight pounds to a mark of 112.

Even accounting for the dreaded 'British tax' that would be added to her mark for Cheltenham, that's not enough to guarantee a run. So, I can't imagine she'll be out for a stroll in this two-mile handicap hurdle at Punchestown on Monday.

If I'm right and this filly has spring targets, she has to be winning this race. Time is running out to get that rating up.

On all known form, she has every chance of doing so. Lakota Blue is weighted to finish a lot closer, but he ran just nine days ago and was pretty disappointing. Meanwhile, Total Look has been done no favours by the handicapper with a mark of 123.

Slurricane is a big danger. His form is as good as anything in the field and he carries just 11st here, so I'm very wary of him. Has he been holding anything back, though? That I'm not sure of.

Maxios Prime and Bid Up rate unlikely types here, while Space Warrior needs a bit of a revival. It wouldn't be a major surprise if he bounced back, though.

But all things considered, I'm hopeful I'm on the right one at 11/4.

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