NAP of the Day: 5/1 filly can follow up at Galway on Tuesday

Last week was on the whole a success for regular readers of my NAP of the Day column, so I'm feeling confident about the week ahead which of course includes the Betfred St Leger Festival at Doncaster.

But my immediate attention is on the action at Galway on Tuesday, with my eyes drawn to a 5/1 shot in the feature race.

It could be a big week for Aidan O'Brien, who has leading chances in the Betfred St Leger on Saturday, and he can get off to a winning start - if he hasn't already - with ANDROMEDA in this Listed fillies and mares race over 1m4f.

The three-year-old daughter of Galileo was, at face value, a slightly-underwhelming juvenile, losing at 8/11f and 11/10f in a couple of maidens following a highly-encouraging debut behind stablemate Opera Singer at Leopardstown last July.

If you're unaware of the latter, she's now a two-time Group 1 winner with ambitions of taking in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp next month.

However, dropping down to an extended seven furlongs next time out didn't suit the selection, who bumped into Dermot Weld's Elizabeth Jane, who earned a rating of 105 after finishing fourth in the Irish Oaks a couple of months ago, on her third and final run of the campaign.

As many of O'Brien's do, the full-sister to 2020 Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Peaceful seems to have improved plenty over the winter - and for stepping up to middle-distances.

She was a highly-promising second to a horse called Comic Book, who has since recorded three-figure RPRs in Group 3 and Listed events over in France, on her return at Bellewstown a couple of starts ago, with the pair pulling over four lengths clear of the rest of the field.

O'Brien's racing secretary Chris Armstrong has since suggested Andromeda needed the run that day, which gives the form an even stronger look. He also said "she's a filly we've though an awful lot of" and that the team retains belief that she's a stakes filly.

Those comments were made after her straightforward success here at Galway in early August, when she had 12 rivals trailing by over four lengths. The 87-rated runner-up went on to frank the form a fortnight later.

Returning to course and distance with the forecast soft ground very much in her favour, I see no reason why she can't progress again which would give her an outstanding chance of landing this wide-open contest.

Per the 18:15 Galway Odds, it's Sir Mark Prescott's raider Rouge Sellier who's the biggest danger.

The Lope De Vega filly is interesting, but I suspect she's underpriced on her fourth to subsequent Group 3 winner Kalpana in what was a slowly-run, five-runner affair at Hamilton.

I also think Romzina is prohibitively-priced on her debut win at Cork last month. That form is not working out and she would need to take a big step forward to win at this level on just her second start.

There's not all that much separating the majority of the other 13 runners, but the beautifully-bred Andromeda is well and truly on the up for powerful connections and this looks within her capabilities.

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