SATURDAY PROFIT FROM THREE WINNERS: Daqman landed his banker among three winning bets yesterday for yet another Saturday profit (35 points). But the score in the feature-race challenge remained Daqman 16, Pricewise 9, with 26 points between them (+12 to -14). Daqman’s winners were:
WON 13-8 Second Thought (banker nap)
WON 100-30 San Benedeto
WON 5-2 Hello George
SIX BANKERS LANDED OUT OF SEVEN: Second Thought gave Daqman his sixth winning banker from the last seven. The unlucky one in seven was Any Second Now (third):
WON 8-13 Bandon Roc
WON 2-1 Watersmeet
WON 4-9 Cue Card
WON 1-3 Paint The Clouds (gold)
WON 8-11 Frodon
WON 13-8 Second Thought
TODAY’S NEWS WRAP: Daqman checks out the big-race news today, and continues his Cheltenham Countdown tomorrow.
TUESDAY AND ALL THE WEEK: Don’t miss the Cheltenham stats and facts, race by race, day by day, a week in advance.
HE’S BACK IN BRISTOL FASHION..
CHELTENHAM: I told you so. But I made it a general statement about Bristol De Mai that there was ‘something wrong with the horse’ and deleted him from my horses-to-follow Cheltenham Cavalry list.
Nigel Twiston-Davies now reveals that Bristol De Mai was ‘lame for a week’ after his Newbury flop and is still a ‘very exciting’ horse.’
CHELTENHAM: Plans for my ‘cavalry’ include Empire Of Dirt (Gordon Elliott) for the Ryanair, for which he is as low as 7-2 with bookmakers but 5.8 in the ante-post orange on BETDAQ.
NATIONAL: I won’t be taking either of the one-two, Definitly Red or The Last Samuri, out of yesterday’s Grimthorpe with the Grand National in mind.
I don’t think Definitly Red will jump the Aintree fences. His record over the more testing of obstacles outside that arena is: Cheltenham (NH Chase), fell; Haydock (Peter Marsh), not fluent 6th; mistake 11th; unseated rider.
The Last Samuri stayed on remarkably, and could get a place in the National, but he’s a perennial bridesmaid who doesn’t have a ‘finish’, only a relentless gallop; hence he’s been third in the Rehearsal Chase, second in the National, third in the Becher and now second in the Grimthorpe. ‘Nearly horses’ don’t fill your wallet.
NATIONAL: Trevor Hemmings, the first owner to have three Grand National winners since Noel Le Mare (Red Rum), has bought Vicente to replace his Gold Cup and National winner, Many Clouds.
Hemmings has already had Hedgehunter and Ballabriggs home at Aintree in his colours as well as Many Clouds. Vicente stays with Paul Nicholls, but whether he’ll stay the National trip.. more later.
QUEEN TO GIVE THE WEIGHT AGAIN
2.10 Leopardstown (Foxrock Cup Hurdle) Willie Mullins, who gives himself three chances of completing a hat-trick in this race, won it with Felix Yonger in 2015 on his way to taking the Punchestown Champion Chase.
Diakali, blinkered first time, and one of today’s Mullins trio, is the only one in the field with Cheltenham championship pretensions but Tycoon Prince and I Shot The Sheriff could tackle handicaps at the festival.
But the market – and Ruby Walsh’s choice – suggests that Bonbon Au Miel (honey sweet? we’ll see) is ‘the one’ of Mullins trio, despite having been absent two and a half years.
3.30 Huntingdon This Listed mares’ race has three Grade-1 entered: Desert Queen, Colla Pier and Pass The Time.
Desert Queen and Antarctica De Thaix were both fallers (Desert Queen odds on) when they met at Wincanton, but both have redeemed themselves since, Desert Queen at this Listed level.
Which, if any of her six opponents, can make the concession of 10lb by a penalized Desert Queen tell in conditions which don’t suit her, on all known form. Her success under rules has been on good ground, good to soft at worse.
Such a concession didn’t trouble her at Leicester (Kassis fourth; Kilronan High unseated), and it was soft at Wincanton when she was odds on
Pass The Time prefers top of the ground so I think her main problem is Colla Pier, placed at a higher grade in Ireland, but yet to win a chase: 18.0 on BETDAQ .
3.40 Leopardstown Identity Thief faces a third-time-unlucky Leopardstown tag, if he blows this one, after finishing lame here on Boxing Day then unseating at the first last time.
It’s a worry that a Grade-1 hurdler who hit form at Thurles over fences should now swerve Cheltenham. It suggests that Don’t Touch It isn’t all that much, and you shouldn’t touch it.
Great Field has yet to convince but is the youngster of the fancied horses at age six, and it’s hard to take a chance on Baily Cloud, who prefers top of the ground, albeit Mouse Morris has hit a seam of form.
COURT SURGE CAN WIN A NATIONAL
4.00 Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire National) We’ve had a couple of National winners, one at 10-1, at this early stage in this series of 29.
Are there enough stayers to go round, we ask ourselves, with this one run for the first time last year and won by Rockyy Bender from only three others.
The field had improved to nine this time around, until defections left us with another small field, in which I favour Court Frontier to continue his recent surge at the expense of Wood Yer.
Cyclop would have beaten Wood Yer at Wincanton had he not fallen, but you have to look at his profile with one eye closed to back him. He is unreliable to say the least.
4.10 Leopardstown No winner in the decade carried more than 10st 13lb and nine of the 10 had 10st 5lb or less, so I shall have my pound on Tony Martin and Donagh Meyley with Dallas Cowboy.
4.20 Sedgefield (Young Chaser Series Final) Short on runners but not on interest or quality as Neil Mullholand sends one up from Bath and Evan Williams all the way from Welsh Wales.
For the third time today, I find myself fancying the one that gives the weight away, Bishops Court, to make it five out of seven over fences.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 6pts win BONBON AU MIEL and 3pts win DIAKALI (2.10 Leopardstown)
BET 7pts win DESERT QUEEN, and 1pt win and place COLLA PIER (3.30 Huntingdon)
BET 7pts win GREAT FIELD (3.40 Leopardstown)
BET 6pts win COURT FRONTIER (4.00 Huntingdon)
BET 6pts win DALLAS COWBOY (4.10 Leopardstown)
BET 8pts win (nap) BISHOPS COURT (4.20 Sedgefield)
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