9-2 NAP WINS THE QUEEN’S PRIZE: Heavy going robbed punters of all chance at Doncaster but Lincoln Handicap day was saved by Daqman’s nap on Haines (WON 9-2) in the Queen’s Prize at Kempton Park.
BIRDMAN CLAWS BACK CASH: Daqman’s sole return from Town Moor was the place part of a bet on Birdman (4th 14.0 from 17.0 on BETDAQ), putting him straightway in front of Pricewise, who tipped the same horse but failed to spend a penny on the place!
BEWARE DROP-OUTS AT DONCASTER: A total of 24 horses had dropped out at Doncaster by 11.30 a,m. for today’s card, with Daqman describing the state of the Town Moor track as ‘a disgrace.’
DISGRACE OF A RACE FOR LINCOLN HANDICAP
‘Wacky races!’ ‘Eight out of nine jockeys said it was very soft or heavy’.
‘Bottomless.’ ‘Four of us went clear; the others had had enough by halfway’! ‘Unraceable patches’.
These are quotes from televised coverages of the Lincoln Handicap, and its consolation, the Spring Mile, billed as due to be run at Doncaster yesterday on ‘soft, good to soft in places; on a cloudy, drying day.’
I cannot use the words to describe this tosh; the nearest I dare get is ‘load of old cobblers.’ And, yes, I am talking through my pocket. Of course I am. So should you be; we should all complain.
The course authorities must have known that this was a suet pudding of a track, and Channel-4’s jodphured jockette who ‘walked the course’ must have blushed later as she reprised her pre-race verdict: ‘It’s a bit patchy.’ So is the bottom of the Thames!
Maybe she could see her free Yorkshire fish ‘n chips hitting the fan if she spoke up about the racecourse executive’s wilful blindness. Channel-4 have had their chips anyway.
The going was changed not because of rain but because they were cutting it up so badly in the Spring Mile that the false surface was chewed and churned into what looked very much like the Town Moor wasteland that closed the Doncaster track, with the Lincoln run at Redcar and Newacastle in 2006 and 2007.
The executive should look at the small print for any guarantee on its replacement that now looks like a harrowed field!
Suffice it to say, we are only punters; we weren’t told and we didn’t have a chance. As ‘Napper’ McGrath put it: ‘If you have backed any of the fancied horses, don’t write them off.’
Our 11.0 pot-of-gold value bet, Udododontu, was certainly that in the market place, cut by almost half to 11-2 favourite in a gamble before the ‘off’, eased down when no chance behind a horse he’d beaten on the last day at Meydan. I hope you did some kind of trade.
RIO LOOKS GRAND FOR IN-FORM STABLE
3.30 Doncaster With their overround up to a shocking 134% on the Lincoln, the big bookies know the score again today: they got Pricewise tipping in a 22-runner sprint!
All I can do is take one or two shreds of evidence, and honour the challenge to my arch-rival, though I’m staying well clear of Town Moor for any decent punting.
As I write, six have already dropped out of this sprint which will have more kickback than an AW meeting. It’s no surprise that the first three in all the straight-course races yesterday all came from the low or high four stalls each side, where there was less kickback.
All eyes will be on Spring Mile winning trainer Michael Dods, who saddles three: Ocean Sheridan is a late-summer horse and Mass Rally has not scored since 2013 (8th in this last year), though was runner-up here at Doncaster in a big field in October.
My Name Is Rio (in the high stall 18) has twice won first run back and seems to be the choice of Paul Mulrennan, Dods’s Spring Mile winning jockey: 6.6 on BETDAQ this morning, as I write.
David Barron has started well and New Bidder, placed in the Ayr Bronze Cup, would complete an April hat-trick for the yard: 6.4 offers
FOUND THE WINNER? YES, BOCCA BACIATA
3.50 The Curragh (Gladness Stakes) Four-year-olds have won six out of seven and we’re back into that endless drama, year on year, of which Ballydoyle beasts are fit to do themselves justice.
As Aidan O’Brien will repeatedly tell us (and does so in the Racing Post today) ‘he’s ready to start’, as if some horses in some races from some stables go to post with their figurative blankets on (no comment).
Since O’Brien runs three here, we’re straight into the second instalment of the Ballydoyle guessing game: which one?
I shall have a pound on Onenightidreamed, who loves it heavy, and can improve on his seventh in the Irish Lincolnshire (which he won last year).
He beat the winner, Struthan, in a Group 3 last May: 17.0 on BETDAQ was big.
4.25 The Curragh (Alleged Stakes) This is a Group-2 race not a Listed if they all go. But such as Found must be doubtful if the ground is churned up, heavy. If she does go I’ll lay her.
Golden Horn spoiled Found’s season in 2015 until she got her revenge in the Breeders Cup, but she is not a filly you want to get to the bottom of early (beaten first three starts last season).
Success Days is the early bird but has to give weight all round under the conditions of this race, and I think this is gifted to Bocca Baciata (5.2 offers in the BETDAQ orange)
Bocca Baciata won first time last season from Pleascach, who went on to beat Found in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. Jessica Harrington says she’s ready (got her coat off!) and won’t mind the ground.
ON GUARD! FRY’S FOUND ANOTHER OPENING
4.20 Ascot Harry Fry’s Opening Batsman (8.0 on BETDAQ) returned to form, second on the last day in a race he’s won before.
The ‘hidden horse’ is Creevytenant (10.0 offers), last year’s winner who has been laid out for the race again; forget his form on bad ground.
Shotavoddka and Pete The Feat come from a slow-run race at Newbury and neither has been able to put back-to-back success together since 2012 and 2013. They have one win between them in two years.
In an earlier race, my man in the long grass fancies Oceane (2.35), with the Ascot course drying out (famous last words; see Doncaster above). I took 9.0 offers Oceane, getting 7lb from the favourite, topweight Adrien Du Pont.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points)
BET 2.5pts win and place OCEANE (2.35 Ascot)
BET 2.3pts win on each MY NAME IS RIO and NEW BIDDER (3.30 Doncaster)
BET 1.25pts win and place ONENIGHTIDREAMED (3.50 The Curragh)
BET 2.8pts win OPENING BATSMAN and 2.2pts win CREEVYTENANT (4.20 Ascot)
LAY to lose 5pts FOUND and BET 5pts win (nap) BOCCA BACIATA (4.25 The Curragh)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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