Nap of the Day: Skeltons? Saturday? Yes please

It's been a difficult few days due to weather-related abandonments, but hopefully the three National Hunt meetings - Kempton, Warwick and Fairyhouse - survive on Saturday.

Especially the former, as the Surrey venue plays host to the Nap of the Day.

I think the handicapper has been very kind to QUAVISTE, who's fancied to land the finale at Kempton on Saturday.

Dan Skelton's six-year-old has been awarded an opening mark of 113, which for me is an underestimation.

The son of Authorised is a half-sister to Qualimita who fetched €90k at the sales back in June 2023, before winning a bumper at Huntingdon on rules debut in February last year.

He beat a decent field, featuring the likes of Wandering Ego (rated 124) and Draco Malfoy (125), in Cambridgeshire, earning him a crack at a Grade 2 during Aintree's Grand National meeting.

That proved a step too far as he returned 12th of 15, beaten a whopping 36 lengths. Skelton has since admitted he was "over the top" and shouldn't have run on Merseyside.

Although on the face of it, his debut over hurdles at Stratford in October was disappointing - he was the 7/4f and finished eighth of 14 - I thought he shaped encouragingly.

It came at a time when the yard's novices looked in dire need of a run, and that's exactly how the selection shaped. He travelled and jumped well, but blew up after the last.

He clearly improved plenty for the run, because he was running a big race prior to unseating jockey Harry Skelton at the last on his subsequent start at Market Rasen. The eventual winner, Brixson, was rated 114 before his untimely passing at Haydock recently, so it's another piece of form that suggests Quaviste is ahead of the handicapper.

Naturally, I was sweet on him on return to Market Rasen on Boxing Day, but I think he bumped into one in the form of Japetus for Nicky Richards. He's rated 125 and could easily be even better.

I suspect the reason connections are keen to turn Quaviste back out so soon is because they were, like me, pleasantly surprised with his opening mark. I hope that's the case, anyway.

In a handicap for the first time, with Harry Skelton back on board, I think he's got an outstanding chance of obliging for Nap of the Day followers.

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