Nap of the Day: Handicap debutant Adonedeal can return to winnning ways

Cheltenham Festival fever will be the only thing on the minds of racing fans up and down the country but Monday’s action is worth a look too. There are four meetings taking place across Britain, although there won’t be any Irish racing on the agenda.

Racing returns to Stratford after their winter break and there’s an intriguing Class 3 handicap hurdle on the card. Plumpton and Taunton provide the other two National Hunt fixtures, while the evening entertainment comes from Wolverhampton on the all-weather. Here is our expert’s Nap of the Day and the horse in question is an unexposed novice making his first start in handicap company at Stratford.

15:20 Stratford - Adonedeal @ 5/1

This looks like a fairly competitive handicap hurdle and there are several different angles to consider. Olly Murphy runs the six-year-old ADONEDEAL and there’s plenty to like about his chances. Handicaps are likely to bring about further improvement as well.

The son of Califet bolted up in a point-to-point over three miles on quick ground at Ballindenisk in May, where he made all the running and quickened clear in good style to score by a margin of 17 lengths.

Connections went to £50,000 to secure the gelding and he made a very good impression on his first start under rules at Southwell in November. He took up the running with four flights to go and went clear readily to win with plenty in hand.

Murphy’s gelding had to do it the hard way under a penalty at Plumpton next time, despite going off at odds of 1/12, but he showed a good attitude to hold off the runner-up. A step up to Grade 2 company was next on the agenda for him and connections tried a longer trip, too.

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Things didn’t quite go to plan that day and he was too keen in the early stages. He failed to get home as a result and you can probably put a line through that effort. The return to two miles should suit and the steep drop in grade can make a huge difference.

Of the opposition, Dan Skelton’s Let It Rain remains very lightly raced and the form of her narrow third at Ascot puts the mare bang in the mix. Mr McLoughlan has already won several times this season and shouldn’t be dismissed, while last-time-out winner Comanche Magic is also of interest.

But Murphy's stable jockey Sean Bowen takes the ride on Adonedeal and a winner or two at Stratford would be a good confidence-booster going into the Cheltenham Festival.

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