NAP of the Day: 9/1 about Ya Karim? That’s most generous

"Providing he doesn't bounce, he ought to be hard to beat." Unfortunately, Morris Dancer did exactly that at Newmarket on Thursday and was in fact very easy to beat. Dead last.

There's no time to sulk in this great game, so here's my NAP of the Day for Friday...

I was keen on YA KARIM at Yarmouth a week or so ago, but Harry Charlton's three-year-old was a non-runner before I even had time to publish the article.

Yarmouth's loss is Ascot's gain, as the son of Ghaiyyath lines up in this 0-90 handicap over a mile in Berkshire on Friday.

The 200k guineas-buy was third of 12 on debut in a Kempton maiden last September, won by the 117-rated Dante winner Item. Runner-up was Charlie Appleby's Devon Island, who won his next two starts to earn a mark of 97.

Ya Karim was just four lengths off the pace in Surrey, catching the eye in defeat. Big time.

He was slow out of the gates and raced keenly in rear, in front of just one rival approaching the turn for home. From there, he made significant headway, passing the majority of the field to get up for third right on the line.

That promise was confirmed at Yarmouth the following month as he made all to see off a field of six, involving York Tower (rated 78) and Devil's Peak (80) for William Haggas and John & Thady Gosden respectively, in comfortable fashion.

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He was disappointing on return to the East Coast exactly 180 days later, but not without excuses. It was a long layoff, first of all, and the first-time hood did little to calm him down. In fact, he was as keen as ever.

That led to a gelding operation just a couple of days later, which resulted in an improved effort from Ya Karim back at Kempton in late May, finishing third of 13 off a mark of 83 on handicap debut.

The winner, Lord Britain, went on to split the 109-rated Power Blue and Puerto Rico (118) in the St James's Palace Stakes at Ascot, so it looks a fairly smart piece of form. Even more so when you remember he was getting four pounds from the selection.

Who, by the way, the handicapper has dropped a pound for his exploits at Kempton. Why? Answers on a postcard, and all that...

It looks to be an act of leniency, which I'm hoping can work in our favour on Friday. He's the NAP for me.

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