Nap of the Day: Staying’s the name of the Nottingham game

We were first past the post yesterday but a bit of late jostling resulted in the Stewards demoting our head winner to second. After ten furlongs two tired and brave two-year-olds were predictably beginning to wilt up Newmarket's unforgiving Rowley Mile, and there will be lots of opinions about the result being amended. Moral victory? Absolutely. A ding-dong thriller all the way to the jam-stick.

Thursday's Nap of the Day comes from Nottingham, a very fair track that attracts lots of big yards, and a fascinating little handicap. Intrigued? I do hope so ...

16:00 Nottingham

Fast Racing Results

16:00 Nottingham - Spartan Times @ 2/1

The selection runs in a 1m 6f Class 5 handicap, for three-year-olds and upwards.

Spartan Times is trained by Jennie Candlish at Basford, Staffordshire, and will be ridden by 3lb claimer William Pyle. The four-year-old Frontiersman gelding is in career-best form on the level and has had a couple of spins over hurdles too, winning one of them, a Worcester novice, by an emphatic 5l in June on good-to-soft.

The ground is expected to have some juice in it at Nottingham so we shouldn't be too inconvenienced on that score, fingers crossed. On the flat Spartan Times debuted over 7f back in April last year and has steadily gravitated to middle distance and staying trips.

He took a 10f classified stakes at Ffos Las in that same month of June, again on good-to-soft, and has run with great credit since, notably scoring at Ripon(11f) and last time at Redcar 19 days ago, over 10f; and in the words of the Racing Post race-reader, 'readily.'

Jennie's had around 40 winners on the flat this calendar year and over a dozen over the sticks. The yard's been in decent nick for some time and they've evidently got one in great heart in Spartan Times.

He's got to defy a mark of 74 this afternoon, but what a credit to the horse and connections that he was racing off 45 when he won at Ffos Las and at this fairly extreme trip, on likely easy ground and in such good order, another success is very much within the realm of possibilities.

William was on board last time, a first, and maintaining the partnership is seen as another big plus. I reckon he's got Andrew Balding's Hebridean Nomad to beat, and it should be a little cracker.

Nap Of The Day with Betfred Insights.