Nap of the Day: Third time can prove a charm for costly colt

I'm drawn to the action at Catterick for Wednesday's Nap of the Day, as a twice-raced colt who cost a pretty penny is backed to break his duck.

He's no great price, but I expect TAWASOL to take all the beating in this seven-furlong novice event at Catterick on Wednesday.

The three-year-old son of Havana Grey for Simon & Ed Crisford was a costly purchase - 240k guineas to be precise - who disappointed on his racecourse debut at Windsor in August last year.

He beat just two of his 12 rivals home that day, finishing over 14 lengths off the admittedly useful Midnight Thunder in the famous royal blue of Godolphin.

Clearly something was amiss, however, as he underwent a wind operation less than a couple of weeks later, before spending the next 125 days on the sidelines.

Unusually for a well-bred, expensive Flat horse, he reappeared over the Christmas period on the all-weather at Wolverhampton, stepped up in trip to seven furlongs.

His performance was much-improved, this time finishing second of 12, under a length behind the 83-rated Best Rate of Richard Hannon's. In third was subsequent victor Stage Winner (81), with City Of God (79) and Leadenhall Street (81) back in fourth and fifth.

That's one of, if not the strongest piece of form offered by any of the 10 runners in this field - and as it was only the selection's second start, he remains open to serious improvement.

Hopefully he takes another sizeable step forward at Catterick, on his return from another 100+ days off the track. Yard form - they're operating at an 18% strike rate in the past fortnight with plenty running well in defeat - offers optimism on that front, as does Tawasol's run off a longer layoff last time out.

Four-year-olds Monsieur Fudge and Stay In The Game are the obvious dangers. Both have the benefit of experience with four runs under their belts and boast some relatively decent form, however they must concede a stone to the favourite. That's a big ask in my book.

I'm wary of one of the other three-year-olds in the field - Gloriously Sassy, for the brilliant Karl Burke. He debuted at Southwell last month and showed a good amount of promise in defeat. There should be more to come from him and a market check is advised.

As for the others, I'm expecting the selection to deal with them in no uncertain terms. Unless one of them improves beyond recognition, or if the newcomer Sweet Kiss is above average, they shouldn't be troubling the judge here.

Click the links for the latest Horse Racing Odds and Today's Horse Races

Tune into Betfred Insights regularly to find our experts' Nap of the Day