FINAL FLING IS A WINNER AT 7-1: Despite a thrashing for tipsters by big-odds winners yesterday, Daqman yet again squeezed one in at the end of the day – Spring Fling (WON 7-1) – to take his sequence to 15 days out of 17 with a winner. He was third in the Cambridgeshire as Pricewise got one back in their value challenge, so that the scores are now Daqman 78, Pricewise 33.
TWO-YEAR-OLD NAP AT EPSOM: Yet more two-year-old tests today to frustrate the punter. There were five on the one Newmarket card on Saturday, and there are three more at the Curragh today, among them a Group 2 and a Group 3, plus the first two at Epsom, one of them containing Daqman’s nap.
BIG OFFERS ON BETDAQ: He goes for more big offers on BETDAQ, with bets at 19.5, 16.5, 15.0 and 14.5, across the cards at The Curragh and Epsom.
14.5 BET FOR THE BEAT GENERATION
Two-year-old queens topple like the wives of Henry VIII. At Newmarket alone, we lost our heads about Fair Eva and Lady Aurelia – not to mention ‘the best I’ve trained’ Queen Kindly – and paid the ultimate penalty: empty wallets.
Juvenile-filly form is now so uninspiring that some bookies go 16-1 the field for the 1,000 Guineas of 2017.
Is the two-year-old colts’ scene any better? Churchill seems to be giving the v-sign to all bar Caravaggio, so the only winner so far is Aidan O’Brien, who trains both, and whose Brave Anna and Roly Poly swept past Lady Aurelia yesterday.
3.25 The Curragh (Beresford Stakes) Today Capri faces a tougher test for the Ballydoyle boys than it looks at first glance.
Capri has won only at Listed level and has to climb two grades up the Pattern ladder if he is to win O’Brien his 16th Beresford this afternoon.
Only two that Capri has beaten – Elusive Beauty and Percy– have run in the Pattern, one eighth of nine the other fourth of five. The only slight boost was yesterday’s Royal Lodge third by the one that beat Capri on their debuts, Arcada.
But, as ever, what can beat O’Brien today except O’Brien himself! Is there a Brave Anna (25-1) result from among his three other runners. Like Capri they’re all Galileos of course.
At Galway, Exemplar had a colt called Tang Dynasty the same distance behind him as that one had been behind the Pattern flop Percy at Killarney.
The colt Yucatan was length off Arcada here in July. Latin Beat won a nothing race at Tipperary but ‘could be anything.’
A feature of the O’Brien quartet is that three of them run in tongue-ties. What’s going to win? I’m not paid to be tongue-tied, so I’ll side with (14.5 on BETDAQ) Latin Beat, whose dam was a half-sister to a Derby winner.
He’s likely to be best in the longer term, and warrants a bit of win and place today to continue the sequence of two-year-old upsets.
2.50 and 4.30 The Curragh Goken (10.5 offers) has lost his form since two excellent runs in the Kings Stand Stakes (third) and the July Cup (hampered) but could bounce back here for first-time cheekpieces in the first of two tricky sprints.
Jane’s Memory (good run in the Haydock Sprint) is improving and 3.0 favourite The Happy Prince has been consistent from the front.
Like The Happy Prince, every good sprinter needs a mix of speed and stamina, as Tithonus (4.30) has shown in winning from 5f to 7f.
Out of the frame only once – five wins – in 10 starts, yet 15.0 in the BETDAQ orange early mouse.
I’M DRAWN TO DE SOUSA AT EPSOM
2.10 and 3.15 Epsom All seven winners on the card a year ago came from stalls 2, 3 and 4 on this turning track.
And – who’s a lucky boy, then! – Silvestre De Sousa, fighting for his title, has stalls 3 and 4 for his first three rides.
The step up in trip after his gelding operation could make Juanito Chico a snip (cruel!) at 5.4 for the opening nursery (2.10).
Arrowzone (5.3 in the 3.15) looks live put alongside Great Hall (no success since 2013) and Hit The Jackpot, a once-a-year horse these days, but huge at 16.5 as the sole raider for David O’Meara.
4.20 Epsom (Apprentices’ Derby) With cut in the ground, Medburn Cutler (19.5 in the BETDAQ orange as I write), can use his stamina under the most experienced of these riders, Tom Marquand.
He could peg back firm-ground front-runner Guns Of Leros, and Jupiter Custos has been raised in the handicap despite twice being beaten into second on this course.
Senza Una Donna may be the main threat. He and Medburn Cutler have the inside stalls, which is very helpful here to apprentices, even more than champion jockeys!.
4.55 Epsom The buzz is Aldrin, a New Approach colt, who could give Charlie Appleby minor consolation for the defeat of Blue Point in the Middle Park. Two-year-olds turned over is where I came in.
DAQMAN’S BETS (each staked to win 20 points, unless stated)
BET 4.6pts win (nap) JUANITO CHICO (2.10 Epsom)
BET 2pts win and place GOKEN, plus (to win 10pts) 5pts win THE HAPPY PRINCE (2.50 The Curragh)
BET 5pts win ARROWZONE, and 1.2pts win and place HIT THE JACKPOT (3.15 Epsom)
BET 1.5pts win and place LATIN BEAT (3.25 The Curragh)
BET 4pts win SENZA UNDA DONNA, and 1pt win and place MEDBURN CUTLER (4.20 Epsom)
BET 1.5pts win and place TITHONUS (4.30 The Curragh)
BET 6pts win ALDRIN (4.55 Epsom)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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