Nap of the Day: 2/1 Doctor a Good bet on Wednesday

Yet another abandonment meant there was no selection from me on Tuesday, but hopefully my week gets off to a flyer just 24 hours later as I look to Hereford for the Nap of the Day.

During a stable tour with AtTheRaces back in October, Gloucestershire trainer Ben Pauling was hopeful about THE GOOD DOCTOR taking "big steps forward" over fences this season.

Relative to his €140k (£117k) price tag, the six-year-old son of Doctor Dino underwhelmed in novice hurdles last term. He won just one - albeit by a wide margin - and his form otherwise read 428P.

However, Pauling puts his lacklustre performances in the spring down to a young horse feeling the effects of a couple of long seasons. He ran nine times, switching yards from France to England in the middle, in just over 12 months, so I think that's a fair assessment.

He was put away after pulling-up in a warm renewal of the Novices' Championship Final Handicap Hurdle at Sandown last April and reappeared 229 days later, a couple weeks before Christmas, in a handicap chase for novices at Warwick.

Off a mark of 119, he gave a very good account of himself, finishing second to Dan Skelton's well-backed Skycutter by just a length and a half with the rest of the field over 15 adrift. The winner already had two solid runs in defeat over fences heading into Warwick, so it was a highly-encouraging debut.

The Good Doctor then went to Newbury just 16 days later and was runner-up again, this time by a narrow margin to Venetia Williams' The Famous Five. That rival was a promising third in a good contest at Windsor previously, so it rates another relatively strong piece of form.

Interestingly, the aforementioned Skycutter was around 15 lengths behind the selection in Berkshire, despite being just three pounds worse off for their prior meeting. Perhaps he didn't run to his very best, but it's a clue as to how much the Nap improved between runs.

I think his trainer was spot on about his improvement for another year and a change in discipline, and there ought to be more to come off just a pound higher mark. That's a generous piece of handicapping as far as I'm concerned.

Encouragingly, Ben Jones travels to Hereford for the ride, despite the yard saddling Sound And Fury at Newbury in a slightly more lucrative race. He has very sound claims to match, so weight is given to Ben's decision.

How he copes with the step up to 2m5f on deep ground is unknown, but a chance is taken on that front with plenty going for him - including the drop back to Class 4 company.

I make him the standout bet on Wednesday at 2/1 or greater.

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