NAP of the Day: 13/8 shot to hit the target at Taunton

After a short break to refresh the batteries for the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival, my NAP of the Day column returns – hopefully in style courtesy of this 13/8 shot.

National Hunt racing at this stage of the season, as we gear up for those epic four days at Prestbury Park in March, can be pretty modest, but there are of course some exceptions – and for me this 0-140 handicap hurdle over an extended two miles is one of them.

Inca De Lafayette and Vicki Vale are fairly-priced and closely-matched, but it’s current favourite Into The Park for Philip Hobbs & Johnson White that gets my vote.

The five-year-old joined the Somerset yard after falling at the last while going well in a PTP won by Champion Bumper favourite Jasmin De Vaux in April last year and is slowly but surely starting to translate that ability under rules.

He ran deplorably in a bumper at Newbury in November, a month before another late exit – this time on the level before the third flight – at Aintree on his hurdling debut.

Again, he was going well at the time of his stumble and subsequent unseating of jockey Michael Nolan. It was too early to tell if he’d have gone on to win, but the fact he had the runner-up Goonhilly over 10 lengths behind at Taunton next time out suggests to me he’d have at least finished second to the 117-rated winner.

That effort at Tuesday’s venue back in January was another promising one. I think the winner Joyeuse, who’s bound for the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, is a very nice horse and the well-backed runner-up was in receipt of almost a stone from Into The Park.

Connections then sent the son of Walk In The Park to Newbury exactly four weeks ago and he got off the mark in emphatic style, putting a widening eight lengths between him and his 15 rivals.

The early signs are that was a relatively decent race too. Anthony Charlton’s Alnilam, who was over 10 lengths behind the selection in fourth, absolutely hacked up at Kelso last week, clocking an RPR of nearly 130.

I don’t think this horse is at all far off that sort of mark already, so he could easily have up to 10 pounds in hand with further improvement – at least that’s the theory…