NAP of the Day: 5/1 newbie can make perfect start

It's an unorthodox NAP of the Day from me on Tuesday, as I put my faith in an unraced two-year-old who goes in the opener at Wolverhampton.

Here's why I fancy the exciting youngster to make the perfect start to his career.

I rarely tip complete novices. There's too many unknowns and even some of the all-time greats came up short on their first day at school. See file marked 'Sea The Stars, Curragh, July '08'.

However, I am going to stray from the norm on Tuesday and back James Tate's NEVER KNOW in this maiden over the minimum trip.

The son of No Nay Never is a half-brother to stablemate Royal Aclaim - a 108-rated sprinter at his peak - who fetched €65,000 at the sales last year. That's a big green tick in the 'breeding' box.

He also hails from an in-form yard that's operating at a 25% strike rate in the last fortnight (two wins from eight runners) and more generally excels with two-year-olds on the all-weather. The Newmarket handler's strike rate under such circumstances over the last five years is 20% (33 wins from 169 runners). Impressive.

I also take a fair bit of confidence from the following quote made in March when Tate was discussing the then-unnamed Never Know as part of a stable tour: "He is a half-brother to Royal Aclaim and is shaping up particularly well at the moment. He looks quick."

The Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum-owned colt is, in my humble opinion, easily the most attractive of the four newcomers in this 11-strong field - and most importantly he doesn't appear to have all that much to worry about from the large majority of his seven rivals with form in the book either.

Although they represent powerful trainers and owners, the once-raced trio of Fregola, Bantz and Candy were all well-beaten first time out and need to improve substantially to enter the reckoning here.

Meanwhile, the twice-raced Cyclonite, Emporess and Mighty Real are next to impossible to advise based on what they've shown so far.

The big danger is without a doubt Where's Clare, who heads the 17:30 Wolverhampton Odds at time of publication, for Charlie Johnston.

She was a close second on her debut in what looked a decent contest at Carlisle a couple of weeks ago and her claims are obvious, but at current prices I'm very willing to chance the selection could be a good bit above average and ready to strike at the first attempt.