NAP of the Day: There’s a Storm brewing at Wolverhampton

It's a one-day work week for yours truly, so this will be my one and only NAP of the Day. Let's make it a winning one, shall we?

In a bid to do just that, we go to Wolverhampton for a well-bred, well-connected and well-thought-of individual.

With his sights lowered, NIGHT STORM can strike at Wolverhampton on Tuesday evening.

James Tate's four-year-old has endured a stop-start career to date, but in a short space of time he's shown plenty of the ability connections have always thought the Night Of Thunder possesses.

A poor debut at Newmarket in August 20204 at two was followed by victory in a five-runner maiden at Newcastle a whopping 444 days later.

Then, under a penalty, he beat a nice type of Roger Varian's here at Wolverhampton by a couple of lengths, earning an opening mark of 87. Hard to weigh up as the second didn't run again, but in all likelihood it's a relatively smart piece of form.

Connections wasted no time in going handicapping, returning to the North East at the start of the current year. He finished third of eight, just one-and-a-half lengths off the pace, after doing plenty wrong in running.

Slow out of the gates, he was also keen early on and left with too much to do, especially over the minimum trip. Mark it up, as far as I'm concerned.

Horse Racing Odds

I can only speculate there was another setback soon after, for he wasn't seen for another 150 days, reappearing at Redcar last month. He ran a little bit below par, but he wasn't disgraced by any means. Understandable, under the circumstances.

The form is decent, too. The winner, I'm Next, followed up off five pounds higher at Beverley next time out, while the third-placed Spring Is Sprung was just touched off in a £12k event at York off a pound lower.

That was a Class 3 and the selection drops into Class 4 company on Tuesday. Also, he's been dropped a pound by the handicapper. Every little helps.

With improvement expect, he's backed to relish these slightly calmer waters under Betfred 2000 Guineas-winning jockey Billy Loughnane, who made headlines again at the weekend by landing the July Cup.

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