NAP of the Day: Put your faith in the Guy in-form

Who to back on Thursday, you ask? I know just the Guy...

Nigel Twiston-Davies is a trainer in red-hot form. To quantify that, he's saddled eight winners from 26 runners - an impressive 31% strike rate - in the past fortnight.

That's just one of the reasons I rate GUY a cracking bet for this 0-130 handicap chase over 2m2f.

The eight-year-old son of Getaway looked all but gone at the game towards the end of last season, but he's returned this term in great nick and, dare I say, looking as consistent as ever.

He was a comfortable 11-length winner on his reappearance in a 0-140 handicap chase at Fontwell back in October, before performing with plenty of credit in two hot contests over the minimum trip at Cheltenham.

The first of those looks particularly strong form. The runner-up Triple Trade, who was four lengths ahead of the selection in 5th, has since won, while the fourth-placed Notlongtillmay was second to Stage Star in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

The handicapper generously dropped Guy a pound for that effort - and then again for his latest run, which through a line on Triple Trade was a near identical showing.

As a result, he lines up here off a mark of 125 - just three pounds higher than before his runaway success at the start of the season - in what looks a significantly easier race. In fact, he essentially goes off 118 when you factor in the valuable seven-pound claim of jockey James Turner.

Providing he copes with the likely soft ground, which is my one concern, he ought to at least go very close in this company and 5s looks great value.

Heros, who was a NAP of the Day earlier this month but unfortunately didn't run due to bad weather, rates a fair danger. He's on the rise and also looks to have a fair bit in hand, but this is a much tougher assignment than his prior engagement and he only gets 6lbs from a runner who's been holding his own against borderline Graded animals.