2:45 – Nadaitak 10/1 E/W
Ben Pauling makes the 600+ mile round trip to Kelso to run two in this novice chase, but I’m of the opinion that Nadaitak is the stables best chance of victory.
A winner on the flat, his future was always expected to be over 3 miles once sent jumping. A grade 2 novice hurdle winner at Doncaster back in 2019, he ran with plenty of credit in the Albert Bartlett but we didn’t see him on the track last season.
He made his belated reappearance over hurdles last month and for all that he was disappointing, I wouldn’t read too much into that. On his first start for 581 days, he was bound to need it, with his trainer saying “Nadaitak was always going to need the run having had over 18 months off the track, so anything he did on Saturday was going to be a springboard for later in the season”. He also added that “he doesn’t do much at home so we’d struggled to get him cherry ripe first time out, he’ll certainly strip fitter for the run”
It’s also worth noting that he was beaten 24 lengths on his first run back of the 2018/19 season before winning nicely next time out.
Ben Pauling has spoken quite highly of him in recent months. On his stable tour with Tote, he said “he stays forever and is a big rangy horse who could he quite smart over a staying trip and a fence. I’m not saying he’s a guaranteed RSA horse but he could be ideal for something like the National Hunt Chase”
The yard has been amongst the winners, while Ben Pauling has a 20% strike rate with chase debutants (27% S/R with chase debutants having had a prior run over hurdles in the same season)
Tom Bellamy, who’s ridden the selection on 3 occasions (1 win), ventures all the way to Kelso for just 1 ride on the card. He’s only ever had 1 previous ride at the track.
It’s also interesting to see the cheekpieces go back on having been left off last time out; when they were applied for the first time over jumps, he won a Grade 2 by 22 lengths.
The top 6 in the market are only separated by 6lbs on official ratings (although Mighty Thunder had to concede 10lbs all around) but Nadaitak was rated 141 in his peak and clearly hopes are high for his chasing career. At the prices, he’s worth siding with.
overandclear.com 