Nap of the Day: Sovereign to rule at Ayr on Monday

On Monday, we return to Ayr on Nap of the Day duty, eyeing a once-raced two-year-old with stacks of improvement in him.

Search "eye-catching" on Google and there'll be a replay of HALF SOVEREIGN's debut at Redcar last month.

Karl Burke's two-year-old finished fourth of 10, just over four lengths off the pace, but her performance can be marked up considerably.

The daughter of Ten Sovereigns' race was over before it really began in North Yorkshire, for she lost several lengths out of the stalls. It's very, very hard to get away with that over these sprint trips.

Sensibly, jockey Sam James, who retains the partnership at Ayr on Monday, didn't ask her to do too much from thereon, allowing her to ghost into contention from way out the back.

At the three-furlong pole she was still around eight lengths off the pace, and the headway she made from there to the line was very encouraging indeed. She was full of running at the finish, offering optimism about a step up in trip.

With a clean break, it's hard to imagine Half Sovereign wouldn't have been troubling the judge at Redcar - and how would this market look if she had?

It's too soon to assess the strength of that form, but it's promising that 10/11f Anaisa, a previous winner who's been awarded a rating of 74, was just a neck in front of the selection.

Burke must like what he sees from his filly at home, for she's among the early entries for a couple of lucrative events later in the year - the £100k and £150k Auction Stakes at Newmarket in August and October respectively.

If she's going to line up, never mind be competitive at HQ, she ought to be doing the business in this seven-furlong novice against unremarkable rivals.

Of those, it's Stoic Poet who sets the standard and should give us most to think about. Iain Jardine's colt has finished fourth in a couple of decent contests at Carlisle and Ayr and is likely to run to a similar level again.

But otherwise, it's a modest field and Half Sovereign should take the world of beating.

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