O’BRIEN TOO GOOD TO IGNORE: DAQMAN hit day 1 of the Ladbrokes St Leger Festival with a SP 7/1 (recommended at 14.5) winner proving the worth of a top jockey in “Legend” races.
DAQMAN v PRICEWISE: The score remains 71-31 after yesterday’s racing but there are three more chances to make a move up the leaderboard at Doncaster this afternoon.
DOUBLE BANKER: DAQMAN has scoured the meetings on both sides of the Irish Sea and has found two Thursday bankers with maximum confidence.
WALK IN THE PARK HILL FOR STOUTE IMPROVER
1.55 Doncaster It wasn’t the strongest of maidens that The Stalking Moon won last time at Redcar but it showed that this filly is improving and could be worth a chance off a mark of 72. John Quinn’s stable is in decent form having four winners from his last 15 runners and Tom Eaves got on well with her at Ripon last time.
2.30 Doncaster Kilmah has shown herself as a tough front-running customer over six and seven furlongs and should be suited by this step up to a mile. She already holds Urban Fox and Grecian Light from their running at Goodwood last time and has the experience edge over some of her other main rivals. At an early 4.5, Kilmah looks the value here.
3.05 Doncaster Sir Michael Stoute has historically an excellent record of slowly developing fillies and turning them into top-class performers, Islington springs to mind, and a filly in those same colours, Abingdon, fits the bill here. Raced only once last year, she has rattled off three wins from four starts this season including a smooth listed win at York’s Ebor Festival last time. This will be a first try at 14 furlongs for her but the ground is drying up nicely and she should give them all plenty to do at a morning mark of 3.2.
3.40 Doncaster Global Applause has been bouncing around some of the best two-year-old races this season and ran with credit when a staying on 4th in the Gimcrack. This represents a drop in class and the likely strong pace here should suit Ed Dunlop’s colt. Ryan Moore hasn’t ridden many for Ed Dunlop this season but has a 36% strike rate which boosts confidence here.
REASON FOR OPTIMISM AT EPSOM
2.40 Epsom John Quinn can make it a quick cross-card double here with Irish Optimism who should benefit from a step up in trip and the removal of his visor which caused him to run far too keen last time. He has been running well of late and the suspicion is that connections think he is better than this mark of 74.
GO WITH THIS HANDICAP BLOT AT CHELMSFORD
7.10 Chelmsford Honorina belatedly got off the mark last time and although that wasn’t the best race she is very well treated off 78 on some of her old form. On her second start last season she managed to split the high-class Nemoralia and Mise En Rose. She is unlikely to ever reach their level but is going to be very hard to beat in a class 4 handicap.
EASY PICKINGS FOR WAKEA
4.05 Clonmel Wakea has already managed to get his head in front in a maiden hurdle at Down Royal in May when winning by a comfortable 13 lengths but was subsequently disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance. He does however have a gilt-edged opportunity now to make amends in what looks an even weaker race. His trainer Karl Thornton has a 20% strike rate in Ireland this season and should be able to improve that here.
DAQMAN’S BETS:
BET 2pts win and 2pts place THE STALKING MOON (Doncaster 1.55)
BET 4pts win KILMAH (Doncaster 2.30)
BET 3pts win IRISH OPTIMISM (Epsom 2.40)
BANKER: BET 10pts (NAP) win ABINGDON (Doncaster 3.05)
BET 4pts win GLOBAL APPLAUSE (Doncaster 3.40)
IRISH BANKER: Bet 10pts (NAP) win WAKEA (Clonmel 4.05)
BET 9pts win HONORINA (Chelmsford 7.10)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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