Nap of the Day: Irish raider hard to ignore at Haydock

It's been a slow start to the week for Nap of the Day followers, but I'm hopeful about regaining the winning thread on Thursday.

We go to Haydock in our bid to do exactly that, putting our faith in a legendary jockey who makes a rare journey over from The Emerald Isle.

As eye-catching jockey bookings go, Derek O'Connor in flat action at Haydock on a Thursday afternoon is right up there.

Not only does the 42-year-old rarely cross the Irish Sea outside of the big meetings, but it's just his second-ever ride on the flat here in the UK.

O'Connor, a six-time Cheltenham Festival winner, is amateur in name only, so his presence on Tony Martin's PRALOGNAN in this amateur jockeys' handicap over 1m3½f is a major advantage.

Even without obstacles in his way. He boasts a 16% strike rate in this discipline over in Ireland across the past five seasons, courtesy of as many winners from 31 rides.

That's a big green tick in the jockey box, but what about his mount?

Pralognan is a six-year-old son of Prix Morny winner Dabirsim who until recently looked completely out of sorts. However, success in a handicap hurdle at Downpatrick in June was followed by victory on the flat in Newcastle off his unchanged mark of 68.

Sent off 7/4f, he won readily under Jim Crowley in the North East, beating a stablemate who made a successful transition back to jumping on his subsequent start.

The selection then lined up in a 16-runner handicap at the Galway Festival last month and had a tough time of things under a 10lb claimer with little experience. I wouldn't look too much into the fact he was 11/16, nearly 10 lengths off the pace. 'Put a line through it' stuff.

Back on these shores off the same mark of his triumph in Newcastle, under arguably the greatest amateur there's ever been, he looks more than capable of returning to the winners' enclosure.

The penalised Spartan Times can give us the most to think about. He's won three of his last four starts and shaped like there was even more to come when bolting up at Ripon last time out.

However, I ultimately find Pralognan hard to resist. He makes strong appeal at the quoted price.

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