Nap of the Day: Highlands Legacy to reach new heights at Newbury

I always find this a tricky time of year, as the better horses from both sides of the Irish Sea await the intense Christmas schedule, so it's fair to say it's a bit of a quiet spell for my Nap of the Day selections.

Hopefully I can build up a bit of form before the festive period, though, starting at Newbury on Wednesday.

I'm quite keen on HIGHLANDS LEGACY for this handicap chase over an extended two miles at Newbury on Wednesday.

It's a trappy affair, but the six-year-old son of Kayf Tara has looked much-improved in his two runs over fences to date, and I'm convinced he has more to offer in this sphere.

A modest hurdler, Jonjo & A J O'Neill's gelding came into the current campaign with a mark of 115 and made no mistake on chase debut, beating Harry Derham's Escapeandevade by a couple of lengths.

That rival has since finished runner-up to David's Well, who landed a competitive event at Cheltenham's Christmas Meeting off six pounds higher. Strong form.

On Highlands Legacy's next start, he bumped into Ben Pauling's Mambonumberfive at Aintree, finishing within a length of the exciting four-year-old. He too franked the form, getting the better of Mighty Bandit, who opposes the selection in Berkshire, off a five-pound higher mark. He's been raised a further six pounds in the meantime.

Again, a strong piece of form - strong enough for me to think the selection's revised rating of 124 (+3) is still on the lenient side.

Especially when you consider he was doing what he was doing in a time the yard was under a cloud. So much so, they decided to run nothing for a period of time. He might need marking up.

I'd say a corner has been turned at Jackdaws Castle, for they've saddled a couple of winners and had a few finish in the places in the past fortnight, so I'm hopeful of further improvement from Highlands Legacy.

As I said, this is a trappy race, so there's no shortage of dangers. Lookaway was sighted at Grade 1 level over hurdles and returns to chasing after an encouraging spin over the smaller obstacles following a wind op. He's more than capable at this level, off his mark.

Despite his age, Torneo has experience on his side and was just touched off in a good race at the November Meeting when last seen. He's up four pounds, though, and this could prove a tougher test.

Mighty Bandit is very unexposed over obstacles and his second to the aforementioned Mambonumberfive at Newbury a few weeks ago was a massive return to form after a significant spell on the flat. He can't be ruled out either.

This demands more of Kotmask, but first-time cheekpieces could eke out that improvement, while Uncle Phil is hard to advise on current form.

I do think Highlands Legacy has a favourite's chance in this company, but his opening price is on the skinny side for me, so the suggestion is to back him at SP. I can see him drifting a bit between now and race time.

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