NAP of the Day: 7/2 juvenile the standout on Thursday

It's the opening day of the Betfred St Leger Festival at Doncaster on Thursday - find my tips here - but we go to Newcastle in the evening for the NAP of the Day.

I suspect Made The Cut will prove popular for this two-year-old novice stakes over a mile, but I have reservations about George Boughey's filly.

There was promise in her debut over seven furlongs at Newmarket last month, but I'm less than convinced she wants this step up in trip and frankly her breeding isn't very inspiring.

BASALT, however, makes strong appeal on that front as a son of Pinatubo out of an Oasis Dream mare called Alienate, who's produced the 98-rated Lmay and one of the most impressive debutants of the season in Estrange for David O'Meara.

Archie Watson's two-year-old fetched €60k at a breeze-up in France back in May and made his debut at Deauville a few months later, finishing 5/11 behind some useful horses, including the winner Maranoa Charlie who bolted up by eight lengths at Chantilly last weekend.

Although the selection was beaten nearly nine lengths, he was keeping on well enough at the finish and as I've already suggested, time might tell that was a useful race.

I expect plenty of improvement to follow, especially as his trainer excels with juveniles. Twenty of his 63 winners in the UK this calendar year have been two-year-olds.

This looks a modest affair, too. I've already mentioned Made The Cut, while the 80-rated Bear Kode - who according to the 16:25 Newcastle Odds is the selection's other big threat - is burdened by a penalty for landing an average contest earlier in the season and arrives on the back of a poor effort at York just three weeks ago.

After that, it's nothing more than ordinary form on offer, so if Basalt indeed progresses like I've suggested, he ought to go very close under Hollie Doyle at a very fair price.

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