CHRISTMAS CRACKERS: Daqman starts his preview of the Christmas racing with stats for the major meetings, showing which races lived up to their Grade-1 status and produced future stars.
MYSTIC MAKES MARK: Mystical Knight got his chasing career and the week off to a positive start with an impressive win at Hereford. Rebecca Curtis’ gelding jumped very well and looks to have a real depth of stamina. An early quote of 20/1 for the National Hunt Chase looks about right and he could be one to follow when stamina is at a premium.
DAQMAN TUESDAY: Five selections today for DAQMAN including a recommended lay of a high class flat stayer on his hurdles debut.
MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK: To celebrate the season of giving BETDAQ are offering customers a 20% boost for the next three days on their horse racing winnings as a free bet for after Christmas. To opt-in just enter the promo code XMAS20 in the my account section of the website. The maximum free bet is £20 and full details of the offer can be seen here.
CHRISTMAS MINI-CHELTENHAM
Seven up for Ireland! Kempton, with the King George on Boxing Day, and then Chepstow the following afternoon, with the Welsh Grand National, are two of the special punting events of the Jumps calendar.
But add those meetings together and you will stiil fall far short of Leopardstown’s sensational tally of SEVEN Grade-1 events over a four-day Christmas festival, also due off on Boxing Day.
I’ll have my slide-rule out for Cheltenham from the word ‘go’, with the December 26 Leopardstown launch including the Racing Post Novice Chase, won last year by Douvan.
The festival guide from day two is the Future Champions Novice Hurdle, which in the past has produced Champion Hurdle winners, Istabraq (1996), Hurricane Fly (2008) and Jezki (2012) on their trajectory to glory.
The Christmas Hurdle and the Lexus Chase are a double delight on the Wednesday. First glance at the Lexus results and you think you have called up a list of Gold Cup winners instead!
Imperial Call (1997), Dorans Pride (1998), Beef Or Salmon (2002-4-5), Best Mate (2003), Denman (2007), Bobs Worth (2013) and Don Poli (2015) have all passed through this golden portal.
Likewise the Christmas Hurdle is launchpad for stars of the smaller obstacles, including Harchibald (2004, 8), Binocular (2010-11), My Tent Or Yours (2013) and dual winner Faugheen (2014-15).
Christmas is coming and the Irish have Cheltenham on the chopping block again, no doubt about it. Leopardstown will tell us where the axe will fall.
TAUNTON: OPPOSE AMOUR AT TAUNTON
1.45 Taunton Based solely on flat ratings this should be a cakewalk for smart 103-rated stayer Amour De Nuit who has joined Champion Trainer, Paul Nichols’ yard. However this will be his first start over hurdles and it is fair to assume that 2 miles over hurdles will be sharper than ideal. With this in mind he is a recommended lay at 2.16 on BETDAQ which will leave promising young horses; Asum, Ramses De Teillee, Buckle Street and Cigarisi all running for you. In time Amour De Nuit will probably prove to be the best of these over hurdles but today might be the day to oppose him.
2.20 Taunton This looks pretty average stuff as quite a lot of these can’t be trusted so an angle is taken that Sweettoothtommy might improve for a step up in trip and switch to fences. He has bits and pieces of decent form over hurdles and his runs in Irish point-to-points appeal in this company. He is a fair price at 9.8 on BETDAQ and a small investment could pay dividends.
2.50 Taunton Hint Of Mint has been steadily improving since his return from a long break and this looks the time for him to get his head back in front. He was just pipped on the line here last time over slightly further and can be expected to go one better today at 2.28 on BETDAQ.
SOUTHWELL: COURSE SPECIALIST A REVELATION
2.30 Southwell Captain Revelation loves it around Southwell with three wins to his name on the fibresand, the latest of which came two weeks ago where he stayed on best to win by half a length. He has been given 4lbs for that win which looks fair and he looks sure to run another good race at 5.9 on BETDAQ.
KEMPTON: GALLIFREY CAN WIN THE DAY
3.10 Kempton A daughter of Derby winner Sir Percy, Gallifrey made a very promising debut on the all-weather at Newcastle last time. She showed signs of inexperience that day breaking slowly and taking a while to get into her stride. If she can learn from that experience she could be a very tough nut to crack now and looks like a bet at 3.15.
DAQMAN’S BETS
LAY 8pts to lose AMOUR DE NUIT (Taunton 1.45)
BACK 3pts win and place SWEETTOOTHTOMMY (Taunton 2.20)
BACK 4pts win CAPTAIN REVELATION (Southwell 2.30)
BACK 9pts win HINT OF MINT (nap) (Taunton 2.50)
BACK 7pts win GALLIFREY (Kempton 3.10)
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