SEE HOW THEY WON: ALL CALL HOUSE! Daqman starts his series on where the Cheltenham winners come from by checking out Saturday’s Clarence House Chase at Ascot. It’s an eye-opener.
NEWBURY SUPERNAP: DAQMAN plays the SUPERNAP card at Newbury today and also has a DAQ MULTIPLES bet including a selection from Market Rasen -racing goes ahead there after two inspections.
MASTERS OF THE CHAMPIONS ART
It’s the race of champions! Saturday’s Clarence House Chase at Ascot has a hall of fame packed with past and future Champion Chase heroes.
MASTER MINDED (2009 and 2011) won it on the way to his first title at Cheltenham; then came back two years later and won it again.
TWIST MAGIC (2010) In the in-between year, his Paul Nicholls’ stablemate, Twist Magic, took it hard on the heels of his Tingle Creek victory in the same year.
SPRINTER SACRE (2013 and 2016) He did the Tingle Creek and Clarence House double before becoming champion at Cheltenham.
Like Master Minded he, too, came back, this time three years later, and won it again.
DODGING BULLETS (2015) One of those that broke a sequence of seven favourites. But Daqman knew (pats himself on the back!).
If you’ve been checking out the Daqman Library, view to checking the winners lists of the last two days, you will see that he figures at 9-2 in my big-race winners for the 2015 Jumps.
UN DE SCEAUX (2016-17): Second in the Champion Chase of 2016 to Sprinter Sacre, and Ryanair winner last year, he could try for a Clarence House hat-trick on Saturday.
CALVADOS! BRANDIES ALL ROUND
1.50 Newbury Eight-year-olds don’t win many novice hurdles but Nicky Henderson is a law unto himself and won this last year with one of that age who had never jumped a twig in public before!
Now we have his Ok Coral who’s raced only three times in almost three years, but has won two of them, the last one in May when he beat some low-level sorts with considerable ease.
So the question is whether there is anything that could be improving among the younger horses that should be winning a race like this. One answer is a seven-year-old trained by.. Nicky Henderson!
Whatswrongwithyou was a length second on his hurdles debut in December to a horse who’s since finished second in a Listed race beating into third place a Grade-2 novice runner-up.
Sandro Botticelli was a Group performer on the Flat, and Sam Twiston Davies is an interesting booking to find out what he’s made of.
But 3.5 BETDAQ offer Whatswrongwithyou has the credentials to win this one, in receipt of 6lb from his shade-of-odds-on Ok Corral this morning.
2.25 Newbury On the face of it, Saint Calvados has a lot to prove here even in this small field and there were only two finishers in his CD handicap win on heavy 18 days ago.
But Harry Whittington can’t speak highly enough of ‘Calvados’, who has now won four of his five starts
Again, though this is a novice heat, recent winners have been seven-year-olds, but a nine-year-old? No, no, I can’t have War Sound. Not a fluent jumper and a bridesmaid, placed without winning (322) on each of his first three chase starts.
One of those seven-year-olds that won this was trained by Richard Lee and Kerry, who now holds the licence, saddles Tree Of Liberty, who showed improved form on his stable debut in his first steeplechase at Ludlow.
Jameson is consistent but the drop back in trip is a worry, and I’m expecting to see an exhibition serving of Saint Calvados, paying 14 profit for every 10 this morning. Brandies all round!
PIPE COULD TURN UP HERE AT 23.0
3.00 Newbury The handicapper has hit Indy Five hard, 12lb for a 12-lengths chasing debut win, though those behind him had little or no credentials for the fight.
Horses following home Kimberlite Candy when he got off the mark at Market Rasen have failed to frank the form since and Rasen is no Newbury.
The same goes for those behind Milanisi Boy at Chepstow. Horatio Hornblower is still sliding down the handicap and could come back to form in first-time cheekpieces. Killala Quay’s winning form is on good ground.
David Pipe has won this race twice in the last six years and You Say What may be forgiven his last run when he hit a fence early on.
Stablemate Saint John Henry should set them alight from the front. His Chepstow form has been well franked by three of those behind him.
So it is that I take Pipe to turn up in this with stakes split between the outsiders You Say What (19.5 offers this morning early mouse) and Saint John Henry (23.0)
3.30 Newbury For the umpteenth time, where have all the young horses gone? Five-year-olds have won every running of this race but there are just two in it today.
But that may be enough, with Nicky Henderson’s Kupatana, an Irish Points recruit, reckoned ready to do himself justice first time over hurdles.
He’s a Westerner and, in case, I forgot to mention it, Nicky Henderson is 11-27, so striking at 41% in the last fortnight.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points)
BET 8pts win WHATSWRONGWITHYOU (1.50 Newbury)
SUPERNAP: BET 20pts win SAINT CALVADOS (2.25 Newbury)
BET 1pt win and place one each SAINT JOHN HENRY and YOU SAY WHAT (3.00 Newbury)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 3 x 3pt win doubles and 1pt win treble LE ROCHER (2.05 Market Rasen), SAINT CALVADOS (2.25 Newbury) and KUPATANA (3.30 Newbury)
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