12.5 WINNER IN DOUBLE WHAMMY: Daqman’s bid for a triple whammy on the first day at Ayr yesterday produced the double hit of winner and successful lay in the Doonside Cup. He scored with Secret Number (WON 6-1 from 12.5 on BETDAQ) and laid Abdon (3rd 9-4). Another big outsider, Bunce (4th 14-1), collected place money.
6.6 NAP IN THE MUD AT NEWBURY: Daqman today braves a 6.6 nap at rain-soaked Newbury, where there are more non-runners than runners. He takes on Pricewise of the Racing Post in the Ayr Bronze Cup and relies on low stalls to land him another sprint, the earlier Dundee Handicap.
BULL’S-EYE BID FOR GOLD: Look out tomorrow for Daqman’s verdict on the Ayr Gold and Silver Cups. There’s sure to be a bull’s-eye bet to attempt 50 points outright.
CLEM SHOULD MAKE HER CLASS TELL
3.40 Ayr (Rosebery Stakes): After low numbers swept the board in yesterday’s sprint – result by stall 1, 3, 7, 2, 8 – it should be worth having a tilt at the handicaps over 5f and 6f; two of the four tests for two-year-olds are also over 5f and 6f.
The seeming low-draw bias could affect the nursery (2.30) but some of the runners are so little exposed that the usual idea of a handicap – that they are weighted to finish level – contains considerable guesswork, particularly with some of them encountering soft ground for the first time.
In the Listed Rosebery (3.40), Clem Fandango deserves to pick up a race like this after places in much better quality fields for the Queen Mary (soft), the Hilary Needler and the Super Sprint a Newbury. Drawn 4.
16.5 SHOT LOOKS SPECIAL IN SPRINT
3.05 Ayr In this 5f Dundee Handicap, Orient Class is 16lb higher than when he last won in the mud; Clifford Line’s 7lb claim helps.
I’ll Be Good is 17lb higher than for success at Chester a year ago; Imperial Legend had a losing run of 30 before scoring at Hamilton in May.
Bogart has dropped down the handicap and his performance in a York sprint in May would see him win this easily. He’s scored on good to soft twice.
Another on a losing sequence is Pearl Acclaim with 22, though he’s officially 15lb better for two-and-a-half lengths with Orient Class.
Ladweb (closely matched with Classy Anne and Bunce) is another who has climbed the handicap but he has raced off even higher marks before and prepped for this over the Ayr CD.
The handicapper kept General Alexander on the same mark after he won in the Spring. And he was right to do so: he’s lost four times since.
Lincoln, an Ayr winner on the soft, has dropped to Class 4 here for the first time since June, 2014, and ran a cracker in the International at Ascot in July, a stone lower than at the same time the previous season. If only this were a mile.
The big field and fast pace will suit another stayer, Specialv, who won on the course in striking fashion over 6f. He’s 16.5 in the BETDAQ orange, and is expected to tuck in behind the low-draw leaders. Bogart was also 16.5 early mouse.
CROWLEY DEFENDER OF TITLE LEAD
4.15 Ayr (Bronze Cup) Dark Defender, a winner at both 5f (soft) and 6f at Ayr, has jockeys’-title favourite Jim Crowley doing the steering. From stall 4.
Fendale was an unlucky fifth from the one stall when the Great St Wilfrid Consolation at Ripon went to high numbers. In stall 7 today.
A penalty pushes Ocean Sheridan into this higher grade. He’s won four time s on the soft. Drawn 9.
Courier’s penalty is negated by the claim of Hollie Doyle, who landed back-to-back success on Marjorie Fife’s four-year-old in August. In 10. Stablemate Classic Seniority is in 5.
Though best at 7f, Classic Seniority, finished close up (hampered) in the Goodwood Sprint, and didn’t run badly on heavy in the Spring. Daniel Tudhope booked, and stamina should come in useful.
Free Zone could go close at his best but hasn’t won higher than class 5 in three years. In the one stall and can turn over Windsor form with Goring (gate 6).
The quirky Khelman is close to his winning mark on the soft at Epsom a year or so back, and finished close up in a big field Ladbrokes handicap a week ago. Stall 8.
Giant Spark (in 3) would complete a soft-ground hat-trick if scoring here but has to defy a 19lb overall rise in a race two grades higher.
VERDICT: Dark Defender at 11.5 is almost twice the price of Giant Spark in the BETDAQ orange as I write. Khelman is huge at 21.0 if he is in the mood but first-time cheekpieces could improve Classic Seniority (18.5).
LIME AND LEMON NAP AT NEWBURY
5.30 Newbury Clive Cox sneaked one in off a lightweight, and Quebee edged out my nap, Yorker, to win by a neck on Wednesday.
This handicap, reduced to seven runners at the time of writing, has Cox’s 6.6 offer Lime And Lemon slipped in at the foot of the weights. Goes well fresh. Likes soft ground.
At the front of the market, Muraabit has to carry 9st 12lb in the mud, Persun similar. And Ardamir is a maiden.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points)
BET 1.3pts win and place on each BOGART and SPECIALV (3.05 Ayr)
BET 7pts win CLEM FANDANGO (3.40 Ayr)
BET 2pts win and place DARK DEFENDER, and 1pt win and place CLASSIC SENIORITY (4.15 Ayr)
BET 3.6pts win (nap) LIME AND LEMON (5.30 Newbury)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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