Nap of the Day: Nicholls can continue Challow rule on Saturday

Following a 7/2 winner on Boxing Day, the Nap of the Day takes us to Newbury on Saturday for one of the best-looking races on these shores so far this season.

Paul Nicholls has farmed the Challow Novices' Hurdle of late and I think he's got another outstanding chance this year with REGENT'S STROLL.

The Ditcheat handler has won the Grade 1 race over 2m4½f a record six times, including the last four on the trot. It's become one of his big mid-season targets that tends to feature his best novice hurdler. This unbeaten five-year-old looks exactly that.

He originally fetched £175k as a store in May 2022, prior to winning a couple of competitive bumpers at Ascot and Newbury with little fuss during the 2023/24 season for Chris Giles, and was later sold to the Ferguson, Mason, Hales, Hogarth & Smith syndicate for a mouth-watering £660k at a dispersal sale this summer before making his debut over hurdles at Newbury last month.

The son of Walk In The Park, out of a half-sister to Denman no less, was sent off 4/11f in Berkshire and made no mistake, powering over nine lengths clear of as many rivals in a maiden over slightly further than two miles.

He travelled powerfully and jumped well but for a bad mistake two out, but that took him just seconds to recover from - a testament to a clearly very big engine.

That form was franked to an extent on Boxing Day as the runner-up Good And Clever, who finished a widening nine and a half lengths behind the selection, was third in the G1 Formby Novices' Hurdle at Aintree behind Potters Charm.

The latter is also owned by the syndicate involving Sir Alex Ferguson, so him opting to drop back in trip and go to Merseyside instead of tackling the Challow as originally planned is likely an indication of how highly they regard Regent's Stroll.

Nicholls' string have, at least in the main, improved significantly between their first and second runs this season and Regent's Stroll promises to deliver even more up in trip, so I'm expecting a big performance.

Dan Skelton's The New Lion has done little wrong in his two victories to date, but I'm not sure he's beat much and for me he doesn't have nearly as much scope as Nicholls' runner.

I really like Bill Joyce for the O'Neills, but the Grade 2 he won at Sandown earlier this month wasn't the strongest, while It's Hard To Know, Wendingo, First Confession and Electric Mason look out of their depth in this company.

It's a competitive race, there's no doubting that, but I see few negatives for Regent's Stroll. He looks the part, he acts the part, he'll appreciate the trip, conditions, and the track. I'm very hopeful.

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