Nap of the Day: Recent run to count for 15/8 Maraaheb

We go to Lingfield for Thursday's Nap of the Day, as a once-raced colt for top connections bids to get off the mark at the second attempt.

Regular readers will know the importance I place on fitness during the early stages of the Flat season.

I find it's a factor that often proves decisive when there's little separating rivals, as was the case on Tuesday as my race-fit Nap beat one returning from a 153-day break.

It's a similar story for this novice event over 1m4f at Lingfield on Thursday, with Betfred's traders finding it tough to split Harpsichord, who debuted over 100 days ago, and Maraaheb, whose first day at school was just a fortnight ago.

The former shaped encouragingly over a mile at Southwell during the Christmas period and although that form hasn't worked out so well, she's open to plenty of improvement. As a half-sister to Charlie Appleby's highly-rated Siskany, she should relish the extra distance too.

I also saw plenty of promise in the recent run of MARAAHEB on his debut in a Class 3 at Wolverhampton.

Andrew Balding's three-year-old son of Arc winner Sottsass finished fourth of 10 at Dunstall Park, just over three lengths off the pace, despite getting bumped out of the gates and racing keenly during the early stages.

It's relatively strong form, too. The winner had already earned a rating of 83 after three starts, while the runner-up was a last-time-out winner who the handicapper has since assessed at 84. The horse in third, who holds an entry for this year's Betfred Derby, won on debut before being tried in Group 3 company at Deauville. He's been awarded a mark of 83.

With a run under his belt, the suggestion is the selection can perform to around that sort of level at Lingfield on Thursday. He will strip fitter, should be a litle more streetwise and is bred to enjoy the longer trip.

I'm hoping that extra sharpness will be the decider between him and his main market rival. That's no disrespect to Lesson Of Life who represents tip-top connections, but his form leaves a bit to be desired at this stage - and unless newcomer Baby Caitlin is above average, I'm not expecting the other three runers to pose much of a threat.

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

Tune into Betfred Insights regularly to find our experts' Nap of the Day