Nap of the Day: Class Act to take stepping stone to Royal Ascot in his stride

The long-awaited Flat season gets underway with its traditional curtain raiser at Doncaster on Saturday afternoon. It's a quality card that includes the Lincoln, the Spring Mile and the Cammidge Stakes, as well as the Listed Doncaster Mile Stakes, which is where our selection comes from.

The Nap has a clear class edge over his rivals down at Listed level and while this is a prep for Royal Ascot, he’s likely to prove too good for these rivals. Read on for my Nap of the Day for Saturday, March 28.

14:57 Doncaster Odds

DOCKLANDS no longer has to carry a Group 1 penalty for last year's Queen Anne success at Royal Ascot and that makes him very much the one to beat in this season's Doncaster Mile Stakes.

He gained his breakthrough Group 1 success with a gutsy effort in the Queen Anne and he’s run several big races in defeat since, notably last time out when finishing fourth behind the classy operator, Voyage Bubbles, at Sha Tin in the Hong Kong Mile just before Christmas.

His best form is on a different level to the rest of this field, officially 4lb clear of his nearest rival, Qirat, who looks flattered by his rating after his win at Glorious Goodwood last season and he's a further 6lb clear of the other three runners.

He's only been narrowly denied on his last two seasonal reappearances and this looks like a weaker race than both of those.

Ground conditions are fine for him and expect him to be too good for these rivals with the return to a straight mile also in his favour.

Click the link for all the latest Horse Racing Odds

Tune into Betfred Insights every day to find our experts' Naps Table