Nap of the Day: Breeze to conquer his rivals at Perth

Newmarket’s July festival might have come to an end but the entertainment continues on Sunday and there are four meetings on the agenda. The jumping action comes from Perth, Stratford and Sligo, with the sole Flat meeting hosted by Dundalk on the all-weather.

Perth’s card looks particularly interesting and their feature race is the Class 3 Sport, Education & Wellbeing Handicap Chase over three miles. However, there’s a two-mile handicap chase earlier on the card that has garnered the attention of our expert.

One of the runners has been in excellent form since joining his current yard and is our expert’s pick Nap of the Day. The Adam Nicol-trained seven-year-old has won three of his last four starts and has been presented with an excellent opportunity to go in again. 

14:41 Perth - Conquer The Breeze @ 6/5

Sometimes horse racing is simple and the in-form horse is the one to side with. That could well be the case in this race, as CONQUER THE BREEZE has been in excellent form since joining Adam Nicol’s yard in the spring, winning three of his four starts.

He landed a low grade race at Hexham back in May before following up in this grade by a margin of 17 lengths. Taking up the running just after the second-last fence, he was well in control from that point and had far too much for his rivals on that occasion.

His only disappointing display came over 2m4f and he lost two places on the run-in, suggesting it was the trip that beat him as much as anything. Nicol’s gelding returned to winning ways in Class 3 company last time out and could still be ahead of the handicapper.

Horse Racing Odds

In terms of significant dangers, David Pipe runs French import Ras Kassar, who won four times over hurdles and fences for previous connections in the spring. Scoring by 11 lengths on his most recent start, the seven-year-old is a very interesting contender here.

Garde Des Champs represents the always-dangerous Lucinda Russell & Michael Scudamore team, although he has a bit to prove on the evidence of his latest couple of efforts. Hypotenuse is also capable of making his presence felt in this race.

However, Adam Nicol has five winners from just 23 runners over jumps this season, giving him a healthy strike-rate of 22 per cent, and Conquer The Breeze can add to his tally.

Check out our NAPs Table daily to find a list of the experts' best bets