NAP of the Day: Enfjaar crying out for Wolferton redo

Top hats on, it's Royal Ascot time. For the next five days, the NAP of the Day will come from the Berkshire venue. Where else?

My selection for the opening Tuesday is a Roger Varian-trained gelding looking to put a luckless run at the meeting 12 months ago in the rearview mirror.

I believe ENFJAAR can get revenge on Haatem and Co. in the Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday.

So does the six-year-old's in-form trainer, Varian, who isn't shy of confidence in his son of Lope De Vega.

He told Sporting Life: "He would have won the Wolferton at Royal Ascot last year but he got the door shut on him at the wrong time."

The second part of that is true at least. Interference occurred on approach to the two-furlong pole, and after being shuffled back Enfjaar was forced to wait until just a furlong left to race for some daylight. By that point, Haatem was pretty much home and hosed.

Given the selection was only a length-and-a-half off Richard Hannon's winner at the line, maybe Varian, who's operating at a 30% strike rate in the past fortnight, is also right in his belief that he was unlucky not to trouble the judge. However you look at it, his effort needs marking up.

Horse Racing Odds

With that in mind, why is he twice the price of Haatem? Answers on a postcard, please.

It's even more baffling when you realise Enfjaar was a couple of lengths in front of his rival in the Festival Stakes at Goodwood last month, keeping on at the finish while Haatem was going backwards.

The selection finished within a length of the 113-rated Boiling Point and Naqeeb (110), coming from dead last and widest of all to deliver his challenge.

It was a highly-encouraging return to action after a 307-day layoff and clearly he's working backwards from the Wolferton, so improvement is expected.

Haatem aside, the reopposing Galen is one to be wary of. Although this is his first run in 122 days, he's 5lbs better off, so of course he could confirm form with the selection and reverse it with Haatem. Joseph O'Brien can do little wrong at present, too.

Nahraan is the other one I'm cautious about. If ready to rock after his 275-day break, the Gosdens' lightly-raced son of Make Believe, who wasn't beaten far by Japanese star Croix Du Nord and Arc hero Daryz in the Prix du Prince d'Orange when last seen, could just be too classy for this field.

But there's question marks about those two - and they're priced accordingly. Enfjaar is overpriced in my book, so he's the NAP of the Day.

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