NAP of the Day: Bassenthwaite can thrive back over minimum trip

The week gets off to a quiet start from a quality point of view, but there is some competitive action on offer and potentially some horses to add to your notebooks as Musselburgh, Catterick, Windsor, Brighton and Ballinrobe provide the entertainment. The most intriguing race of the day comes from Windsor and they host a £20,000 5f handicap.

A field of nine has been declared and it looks like a very interesting puzzle to solve, with the added dimension of a last time out winner amongst them. Our expert's best bet of the day lines up in this race and the Clive Cox-trained three-year-old is set to return to form now returning to 5f, as things didn’t go to plan when trying a longer trip last time out.

Horse Racing Odds

19:17 Windsor

19:17 Windsor - Bassenthwaite @ 11/1

Windsor's feature race is definitely going to be fast and furious and there's more than £10,000 on offer for the horse who comes out on top. An interesting field has been assembled and it’s the sole three-year-old who makes the most appeal here.

Clive Cox's BASSENTHWAITE managed to win a couple of times as a two-year-old and the return to 5f should make a huge difference to his chances, having failed to see out the trip over a furlong further on seasonal debut last time out.

He's the sole recipient of the 6lb three-year-old-allowance and that could be a significant factor here. Struggling a little on his first couple of starts, he produced a much-improved performance to get off the mark at the third time of asking in a Ffos Las novice.

That form is hard to knock, especially as Hilitany was the runner-up on that occasion and he went on to score at Listed level over the winter. Connections decided to switch to handicaps off the back of that success and he bolted up at Wolverhampton in November.

Positive tactics proved successful on that occasion and he made all the running to score by more than four lengths. You can forgive his most recent run over 6f at Newcastle as something was amiss and he's capable of much better.

Cox has given him plenty of time to get over that and he should be much happier back over the minimum trip. Don't give up on him just yet, as he's still lightly raced and further progress can't be ruled out.

Glamorous Breeze likes it here at Windsor and should be in the mix, having not been beaten far at Goodwood last time out, and Ross Burdon's Mesaafi was a course and distance winner last time out. Veteran Dream Composer also has the ability to make his presence felt.

NAPS Table with Betfred Insights.