A winning NAP in the first of 38 races across the UK & Ireland on Tuesday – wouldn’t that be the Sweetest?

Aidan O’Brien’s SWEETEST cost €420,000 and, as I write this on Monday afternoon, is still entered in the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.

Given she remains a maiden after three attempts, I think it’s fair to say things haven’t gone at all to plan for the two-year-old daughter of Blue Point.

The form of her first two starts, firstly over course and distance on debut in August and then over slightly further at Naas just over a week later, is fairly average, but her latest effort was much more promising.

Prime Art, the horse who beat her by two lengths at Naas the last day, was a comfortable winner of a Group 3 contest at Ayr last weekend and the runner-up Emerald Banner since ran Sweetest’s 99-rated stablemate Alabama close at Dundalk.

That leads me to believe that she is improving, albeit at a slow rate, and is more than capable of winning this race.

She has 12 opponents to deal with – 10 that boast modest form and two newcomers that hardly leap off the page.

This drop back to 5f on soft ground is a question Sweetest has to answer, but frankly I – and I’m sure connections too – will be bitterly disappointed if she can’t get off the mark here under Jack Cleary, whose 7lb claim means the selection is getting weight from all but one of her rivals.