NAP of the Day: In Excelsis Deo to make amends at Cheltenham

It’s a lightly-raced novice chaser, who I’ve already tipped in another piece looking specifically at the live ITV races on Saturday, that gets the NAP of the Day treatment.

Harry Fry’s In Excelsis Deo looks to have an excellent chance in this seven-runner handicap chase over 2m½f.

The JP McManus-owned five-year-old was sent to Fry’s yard in Dorset in November last year after a handful of runs in France, and it’s fair to say he’s not been the most consistent type to date.

He was sent straight over fences, despite being only four, and enjoyed a quite striking success, off an opening mark of 127, first time out in a Hereford handicap that December before a couple of underwhelming efforts over intermediate trips in the spring.

But he went to Southwell in April and ran a solid race in defeat behind the then 124-rated Thelasthighking (now 134), who was getting eight pounds from the selection. That was much more like it.

After a summer break, he returned with another highly-promising effort in defeat at Cheltenham – on the Old Course over exactly two miles – back in October, in an extremely competitive handicap.

That form has really worked out. The runner-up Triple Trade won next time out and is now rated 6lbs higher, while the fourth-placed Notlongtillmay, who was second in the Turners Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, was second in the lucrative Paddy Power Gold Cup.

Harry Fry’s gelding was ridden cold that day and finished like an absolute train to get up for third, in front of the aforementioned Notlongtillmay, which suggests this slight step up in trip on the more demanding New Course will really suit.

Hopefully he travels closer to the pace on Saturday afternoon and, off just a pound higher in an contest, he can get the job done.