Nap of the Day: Murphy’s Flyer to land first win

We're taken to Lingfield for Thursday's Nap of the Day, as a lightly-raced novice hurdler that's been firmly on my radar for a few weeks now is trusted to deliver the goods.

Olly Murphy's DRAYTON FLYER went straight into my tracker after an encouraging second on hurdling debut at Lingfield the other week - and I'm backing him to go one better back at the Surrey venue on Friday.

The six-year-old gelding, who fetched £56k as a store back in 2022, began his career at Wetherby over Christmas, finishing runner-up to a shorter-priced owner and stablemate in a two-mile bumper.

I thought it was a highly-promising performance. Held up in rear throughout, he still had plenty to do entering the home straight and was behind at least eight horses before the field got lost in the fog. He emerged in second, just a couple of lengths behind the winner and over three lengths adrift of the third.

Just over a month later, he came to Lingfield for a maiden hurdle, again over the minimum trip. He was friendless in the betting, as opposed to the eventual winner Disco Davis - tipped up at a significantly bigger price in this very column - who was backed into odds-on, and caught my eye again.

He was ridden patiently once more and travelled smoothly throughout, making stylish headway between the third-last and penultimate flight and staying on all the way to the line under mainly hands and heels.

I'm expecting significant improvement, not only for the experience but also for the step up to an extended 2m3f. This fine stamp of a horse, who'll make a cracking chaser in the future, shapes like he'll really appreciate it.

Conditions - it's good to soft, soft in places at time of publication and there's rain forecast overnight - will be no hinderance either. The selection looked at home on heavy ground last time out.

On the other hand, it might be a problem for the selection's main market rival, Golan Loop. Warren Greatrex's five-year-old was beaten by a long distance at 4/7f on soft ground at Plumpton earlier this year having run exclusively on better ground previously.

Christian Williams' Last Rodeo is respected after a couple of eye-catching runs in defeat, but he appeals as one for handicaps in the near future - while Blue Bellamy is already held by Drayton Flyer on two pieces of form.

Cauvicourt is interesting at a price after his one-and-a-half-length defeat to the 132-rated Electric Mason, who was 1/10f, at Fontwell last month, but it's unwise to take that form literally. Ledders has plenty to do after a 718-day layoff. Otherwise, it's 20/1 bar.

This looks a great opportunity for Drayton Flyer to get off the mark. His current price is fine, but looking across the board I can see him drifting a bit this evening and possibly even into the morning, so I couldn't put anyone off waiting for that possibility to snag a better price.

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