Nap of the Day: Owen’s best bet for Day 3 of the Betfred St Leger Festival

It's been a successful Betfred St Leger Festival so far for Nap of the Day followers, courtesy of Wechaad (13/2) on Thursday and Sweet William (11/8) in the Doncaster Cup on Friday.

Can we make it three-from-three on Saturday and improve our recent record to eight from 10?

The penultimate race at Doncaster on Saturday is a maiden stakes over a mile, which the market suggests is a match between Del Maro for Charlie Appleby and Nova Centauri for John & Thady Gosden.

The former is a son of Camelot who fetched €850k as a yearling last summer, and he's entered in some of the biggest juvenile races left on the calendar - namely the Royal Lodge and Futurity Trophy.

He's undoubtedly an exciting prospect and I do expect him to improve significantly for his second on debut at Newmarket last month, but it's hard to ignore how that form is working out.

The winner, Glacius, was comfortably beaten in an admittedly hot Listed event at Haydock last week, while the third-placed Pacifica Pier finished out the back of the tele in a handicap here on Town Moor on Thursday. The Joker (fourth) and Celstarak (fifth) also failed on their subsequent starts.

On the other hand, the form of NOVA CENTAURI's third at Newbury last month received a timely boost here at Doncaster on Thursday as the runner-up Wechaad - suggested to Betfred Insights readers at 13/2 - bolted up in a handicap off an opening mark of 82.

The winner of that race in Berkshire, Venetian Prince, looks a nice prospect too. He's out of an outstanding broodmare and the fact he was sent off 6/5f suggests he shows plenty on the gallops at home.

The selection was arguably the one to take out of that race, too. He was keen early on in the race and showed signs of greenness when push came to shove, but once he got going he finished particularly strongly, closing on the front two with every stride.

He therefore ought to relish the step up to a mile on Saturday, and Oisin Murphy taking over in the saddle is a further positive.

I'm very hopeful about him getting the better of the aforementioned Del Maro - and the standard I expect him to set is a lofty one for newcomers like Lyneham, Colourband and El Loco.

As far as I'm concerned, he'll take a good bit of beating here.

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