Nap of the Day: Birthe underestimated at Leopardstown

There is plenty of Sunday racing as the week concludes following the spectacular Ascot's Champions Day. In the UK, they race at Sedgefield and Kempton over jumps, while in Ireland, it's National Hunt racing from Limerick and action on the Flat at Leopardstown.

Sunday's Nap of the Day hasn't yet shown her best form since arriving with Joseph O'Brien from France, but it remains early days, and there are reasons to believe things are in her favour at Leopardstown.

Joey Sheridan rides BIRTHE for the Joseph O'Brien team in the Listed Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown, and the French import is possibly being underestimated after two runs for these connections.

The yard also runs Trustyourinstinct, with title-chasing Dylan Browne McMonagle on board. He's top-rated in the race and gives away weight all round as a result of his Curragh Group 3 success in June.

Birthe, meanwhile, boasts some smart form from her time in France, where she won a Listed race at Toulouse and the Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp and finished second in the Group 2 Prix Alec Head at Deauville over 1m2f last year.

15:26 Leopardstown Odds

She moved to this yard over the winter, and the Study Of Man filly was having her first run in 252 days when well held in a Group 2 at the Curragh (1m, good) in May - that race going the way of the previous Group 1 scorer Porta Fortuna.

At Punchestown last month, Birthe was beaten just over two lengths behind Barbizon in a minor contest over an extended one-mile-one-furlong, reportedly finishing lame.

It's safe to suggest that she hasn't yet reached her potential for the O'Brien team.

Going up in trip once more will suit, and the forecast 'Yielding-yielding to soft in places' conditions underfoot are another positive, given the filly's two turf wins in France came on testing ground.

A pair of first-time cheekpieces are deployed now and could spark her into life. If she rediscovers her best form from France, this four-year-old filly is capable of going close amongst these rivals.

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