NAP of the Day: Step Into The Light at Ascot on Thursday

Did the best horse in the Duke Of Cambridge on Wednesday actually finish third? I think so. Friendly Soul was given lots to do from the rear, delivered on the far rail where space was at a premium. Once daylight appeared, she powered home, just over two lengths off the winner in the end. 'Eyecatcher' according to the Racing Post assessor. Indeed...

Hopefully there's no such hard-luck stories for the NAP of the Day, which comes in the second race on the card, on Thursday.

Charlie Appleby's recent record at Royal Ascot - just one winner in the last three years - has been well-documented this week.

As far as I'm concerned, he's simply not had the rub of the green. I don't think there's any cause for genuine concern.

Opera Ballo and Talk Of New York weren't beaten far at all in the Queen Anne and St James's Palace respectively on Tuesday, while Del Maro was done in a photo in the Queen's Vase on Wednesday. It'll come.

Hopefully on Thursday, courtesy of INTO THE LIGHT in the King George V Stakes.

A 19-runner handicap over 1m4f, it's a fiercely-competitive event, but I'm quite bright on the chance of Appleby's three-year-old Dubawi colt.

He announced himself as a useful type on debut at Lingfield in February, beating Roger Varian's 80-rated Al Azd, who's since climbed 12lbs in the handicap, by a length. The rest of the field trailed by over four lengths.

Horse Racing Odds

In hindsight, trying to give Karl Burke's Ravenspire, a subsequent winner who was fifth in the Queen's Vase on Wednesday, seven pounds at Southwell a month later was a tough ask - and then I thought he was unlucky not to go in on handicap debut at Sandown next time out.

Into The Light just, and I mean just, failed to get up in Surrey after taking a bit of time to get going from out the back of the field. It wasn't until the final furlong that he got motoring, making significant ground on the eventual winner - Lost Boys for David Menuisier.

The latter followed up at Newbury off six pounds higher, earning a further rise of seven, and he's been bought by the big-spending Wathnan Racing ahead of a bid in the Golden Gates Stakes on Saturday. The third (The Joker) and fourth (Bnaider) at Sandown have also franked the form in the meantime.

I struggle to believe the selection isn't still a good bit ahead of his mark of 88 (+5). I'd put him somewhere in the mid-90s, if asked to put a figure on it.

The step up to 1m4f should suit and with a bit of luck, I suspect it'll take a pretty good one to beat him.

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