Nap of the Day: Ayr on the side of La Zoubida

It was a bitterly-disappointing effort from Thursday's selection at Haydock, pulling up before the final flight. Not his running, or no good? Either way, he won't be seeing my money again.

We could use a change in fortune with a certain event on the horizon - and I'm going up to Ayr in search of exactly that on Friday.

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She's got a lot of weight to carry, but LA ZOUBIDA ought to take a good bit of beating in this mares' novices' hurdle over 2m4½f at Ayr on Friday.

Nicky Richards' six-year-old daughter of Authorized has always shown ability, finishing runner-up to 129-rated, Grade 2-winning hurdler Kingston Queen in a bumper at Sedgefield on Boxing Day 2024 before opening her account at the second time of asking at Market Rasen a couple of months later.

Connections tried her in the Grade 2 at Aintree's Grand National Meeting that April and she finished 12th of 20, just under 20 lengths off the pace. Not totally disgraced, but clearly it was a couple of steps too far - certainly at that stage of her career.

She was put away thereafter, returning 224 days later to make her hurdling debut at Sedgefield in November last year. She won, and followed up in a higher grade at Kelso in early December, beating a 104-rated rival by over three lengths, conceding seven pounds.

It was probably too quick of a turnaround between that and the Betfred "The Classic Bookmaker" Mares' Novices' Hurdle - a Listed event - at Haydock. She beat just one home and was 25 lengths adrift. According to jockey Sean Quinlan, who maintains the partnership in Scotland on Friday, she was never travelling.

Something of a return to form at Sedgefield last time out in late January, as she was runner-up to one of Tim Easterby's that was receiving a whopping 12 pounds. That one's since run a fine race on handicap debut off a mark of 109. On that evidence, I think it's fair to say the selection's mark (117) is pretty fair.

Largy Rose and Culzean are hard to advise even in receipt of 12 pounds. Society Soldier gets the same allowances, but has a significantly stronger chance. In fact, she's the main danger in my eyes.

Roses All The Way 'only' gets five pounds after winning at odds-on at Musselburgh last month. She was given a complete freebie out in front, though, and I suspect she's a bit flattered by that seven-and-a-half-length margin.

La Zoubida is the solid option and unless Society Soldier takes a bigger step forward than I'm anticipating or if the point-to-point recruit Queens Secret is above average, she ought to take all the beating.

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