Nap of the Day: 15/8 Lucie can dazzle in Dublin

Where else was the Nap of the Day going to come from on Saturday other than the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown?

There's a highly-promising filly I'm excited about on the card and she's my idea of the best bet around - maybe all weekend.

I'm sweet on SAINTE LUCIE for the Triumph Hurdle at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, and I'm expecting Willie Mullins' filly to enhance those claims at the Dublin Racing Festival on Saturday.

The daughter of Great Pretender is just about favourite (15/8) for the Grade 1 Juvenile Hurdle over Gavin Cromwell's Hello Neighbour (2/1), the winner of a Grade 2 over course and distance on Boxing Day, at time of publication. Closutton stablemate Lady Vega Allen, who was just touched off by the aforementioned Cromwell inmate at Christmas, isn't far behind in third in the market - while the other five runners are all double-figure prices.

I suspect Sainte Lucie will go off a clear favourite, especially if her trainer wins the opener - even more so if it's with Final Demand, the mount of Paul Townend.

While her main market rivals bring Graded form to the table the book, the selection brings immense potential. She fits very much under the 'could be anything' banner.

That's not to say she's achieved nothing, either. She was third in a hurdle race in Auteuil last April before an emphatic success on Irish debut at Punchestown on New Year's Eve - form I was initially sceptical of but has worked out a lot better than expected given the margin of victory.

Runner-up Luker's Tipple, beaten 11 lengths, was a close second to an odds-on shot at Cork the other week and is up there in the betting for the Scottish Triumph Hurdle at Musselburgh on Saturday - while the third (24 lengths adrift of the selection) and fourth (26L) have since finished second to respectable rivals.

Sainte Lucie won in the style of a very good horse in County Kildare. Mullins labelled her "right out of the top drawer" immediately after and Townend was "deeply taken" by her performance according to Rich Ricci's racing manager Joe Chambers on a recent episode of the Nick Luck podcast.

My confidence in Rich & Susannah Ricci's four-year-old has only grown in the meantime. Mullins was very complimentary about her during a recent media day at Closutton, admitting she was "only half ready" at Punchestown and suggesting there's significant improvement to come.

It's hard to compare her form to her market rivals. On paper, pulling seven lengths clear of the field in a Grade 2 would have Hello Neighbour and Lady Vega Allen well ahead, but how strong really is that form? I'm not convinced.

Racing Post Ratings, for as much as that's just another man or woman's opinion, has the pair on 125 and 117 respectively, while Sainte Lucie was awarded 120. I'd say that's fair, but the thing about the selection is she did what she did on the bridle, with lots in hand.

She's incredibly exciting and I can't wait to see what she can do up in class on Saturday. I'm hopeful of a big performance.

Click the links for the latest Horse Racing Odds and Today's Horse Races

Tune into Betfred Insights regularly to find my Nap of the Day