Nap of the Day: Pauling to provide the answer at Ascot

Ouch, ouch, and ouch again. Everything was going exactly to plan for Theflyingking, the Nap of the Day and my maiden antepost selection for Cheltenham 2026, at Down Royal on Friday until he made a mess of the final flight when three lengths clear. Tough to take, but if you've followed me in for the Festival, I've not lost any faith. Zilch.

Fingers crossed there's no hard luck story when it comes to Saturday's selection - a novice chaser for a yard among the winners of late.

Ben Pauling told us his point-to-point recruit Taurus Bay, a 5/4 winner for Nap of the Day followers on Thursday, was a potential graded horse, and he sure looked like one when bolting up by eight-and-a-half lengths at Stratford.

The Cheltenham-based trainer has made similar remarks about NO QUESTIONS ASKED, who debuts over fences in a 2m3f novices’ handicap at Ascot on Saturday.

In a recent stable tour with Sporting Life, Pauling said the seven-year-old son of Ask, who “could win some Grade 2 races”, is open to plenty of improvement this term. He also name-dropped the two-and-a-half-mile handicap at the Cheltenham Festival as a possible spring target.

As far as I’m concerned, that makes him highly-appealing at this stage of the season, as I believe his mark of 136 is very fair on what he achieved in novice hurdles.

He gave a stone and a beating to the 116-rated Big Ginge at Hereford a few days before Christmas and then finished a brilliant second to Nicky Henderson's Califet En Vol in the Sidney Banks.

After that, he beat John Barbour, who did it nicely in a handicap at Uttoxeter on Friday off a mark of 113, earning a shot at the Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival.

He ran no race at Prestbury Park, but Pauling says he scoped badly afterwards, so it's easily forgiven.

Fast forward 232 days later and he reappears in Berkshire, hopefully fit and ready to go. I see no reason why he won't be, as Pauling's started the season strongly, operating at a 18% strike rate in the past fortnight, boasting four winners and as many places.

This looks a good starting point for No Questions Asked. The second favourite is Paul Nicholls' Viroflay who since December 2022, following a 770-day layoff, has been operating between the flags and in hunters' chases. This is a step up in class and his rating looks inflated.

French recruit Lylian, for the Moores, is the one who can give us most to think about, but he's hard to weigh up on British debut. The four-year-old receives stacks of weight, though, and must be showing enough to start at Ascot on a Saturday. Watch the market.

Don't Tell Su changed hands over the summer, joining Nicky Henderson, and that can bring about some improvement. However, he has a lot to find and is looking a bit exposed at this point.

I fancy No Questions Asked to prove very hard to beat in this company.

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