SECOND 16-1 HIT IN TWO DAYS WITH THREE WINNERS IN A ROW: Daqman landed three strikes in a row yesterday worth 60 points profit, including a second 16-1 winner in two days, after Mustajeer won him 70 points in the Ebor. His Saturday pair of winning outsiders were both at York, making nine winning tips since the meeting opened on Wednesday, but he spread the net wide yesterday to Deauville, Goodwood and Yarmouth. Just look at the prices in his weekend of memories!
SUNDAY
WON 16-1 PROTECTED GUEST (18.5 BETDAQ offers, win and place)
WON 2-1 LE DON DE VIE
WON 15-8 SPINNING MEMORIES
SATURDAY
WON 16-1 MUSTAJEER (26.0 BETDAQ offers, 21.0 BETDAQ XSP)
WON 9-1 QUE AMORO
RIPON STEALS THE HOLIDAY SHOW WITH ITS CHAMPION TROPHY: The Epsom Bank Holiday meeting, with the Amateurs Derby, is a shadow of its former self, so Daqman concentrates on three excellent but tricky races at Ripon today, which include the Champion Two-Year-Olds Trophy and the historic Ripon Rowels, in which he has the nap.
ROCK CAN PLAY UP RIPON WINNINGS
3.20 Ripon (Billy Nevett Memorial, 1m 2f) Private Billy Nevett got special leave from the army to ride Owen Tudor to Derby victory when first-choice jockey, Sir Gordon Richards, was out injured. Nevett rode three Derby winners out of five in wartime Britain, more notably Dante.
Yorkshire trainers have won three of the last seven commemorative Dante Stakes, including Mark Johnston, who saddles The Trader in this today, racing off 90, some 25lb below the Dante winner’s rating this year. That’s why it’s a class-3 handicap.
A CD winner here on the last day, Southern Rock is raised 4lb and up in grade to the level which saw him second at Haydock in July. That was against horses rated higher than he meets here.
Amber Spark’s CD success was in class 4 on the soft in June, and he appears to have gone off the boil in better quality races since.
A Bellewstown winner over a mile in June for Joseph O’Brien, connections did well to ‘get shut’ of Jupiter Road if his form (last over a mile, last over 1m 2f) for Nigel Tinkler is anything to go by. ‘Tink’ is in the doldrums with a 1-20 strike rate right now.
Sir Michael Stoute and owner Hamdan also ‘got shot’, when Madeeh moved to Philip Kirby six weeks back. Still a maiden.
PURPLE PATCH IN CHAMPION TROPHY
3.55 Ripon (Champion Two-Year-Olds Trophy, 6f Listed) This is a fascinating contest, with the best-drawn youngsters getting early-mouse offers of 32.0 and 40.0 in the BETDAQ market. Even in a small field, a low draw seems a major benefit, with the one stall winning six of the last nine.
Great Dame occupied this golden gate today, but drying ground this morning prompted withdrawal when 40.0 on BETDAQ failed to tempt, leaving Keep Busy the lowest drawn.
The twin successes of Sir Boris at Nottingham also came on the soft, and his hat-trick mission today needs another step up and adaptability to different ground. A double-figure price.
Keep Busy (stall 2) and Sir Boris are both on a 6f hat-trick mission. ‘Busy’ was also being snubbed at 32.0.
Today’s favourite, Platinum Star, was second in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot, runner-up again in the July Stakes and drops back to 6f now after finding 7f too far behind Pinatubo at Goodwood.
The worry here about taking around even money is that Platinum Star is running without a plan, aiming low now for a minor body blow after the big knock-out punches at the head of the game all failed. Stable mostly missing strike, with form figures of 132202224.
Also with a bit of class is Lambeth Walk, up 8lb for being fourth on the last day, when Raffle Prize easily won the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes (former Cherry Hinton) at the July Meeting.
My immediate concern with Oh Purple Reign is that, despite his consistency, and wins at York and Chester, he is looking exposed with no progress in his rating (last three 98, 98, 97, and off 97 again today).
However, when Oh Purple Reign was beaten a neck in a nursery by Bettys Hope, she was conceding 20lb to the winner (5lb today).
Bettys Hope was penalised only 4lb which let her into the Newbury Super Sprint (5f) with 8st 4lb. She led in the final stride. Oops, said the handicapper and hiked her 11lb.
All good pointers for Oh Purple Reign and, in taking 7.0, I also relied on jockey Sean Levey’s excited comments in the Racing Post analysis after the colt scored at Chester: ‘Oh Purple Reign is unbelievable and so straightforward.. a dream ride.’ Over to you this afternoon, then, Sean.
REMEMBER SUNDAY-LUNCH TRAINER
3.40 Epsom (Amateurs’ Derby) I can’t resist a pound on Brancaster off bottomweight at 9.2 on BETDAQ. He gets on well for David Elsworth with Mr George Eddery, whose claim drops him 11lb below everything else.
4.15 Epsom (Walter Nightingall Conditions Stakes, 1m 2f) Another tribute race, this one to Sir Winston Churchill’s trainer, who was one of the greats when Epsom was great.
Nightingall was called ‘the Saturday specialist’. Somehow he contrived to win a Saturday race somewhere, usually in the South. When asked about it, Walter declared: ‘I always like to win one for the lads to buy their Sunday lunch.’
Nightingall would be shocked at the demise of Epsom as a training centre, and at the poor card this afternoon.
Crossed Baton, a CD winner here, is being all dressed up for this – wind ops and blinkers first time – against a big-field handicapper, Setting Sail, who may be all at sea without the usual pace.
IBRAZ LOOKS UNDERRATED IN ROWELS
4.30 Ripon Rowels (1m) Eight in a row have gone to stalls 1 to 5, seven on the trot to Northern trainers. David O’Meara, who saddles Fayez from gate 3 here, has won it twice.
Fayez loves Ripon. His form on the course is 1323113, but (there’s always a ‘but’, isn’t there) he needs a career best here, racing off a mark 13lb higher than at the start of the year, 13 races back.
He hasn’t won over shorter than 9f on turf since his debut in June 2016 and there’s no pace on here. I suggest, Daniel Tudhope, that you kick on!
Alfred Richardson, a CD winner lightly raced this year, could be the one to beat. Mikmak has also won over the CD but 10lb lower than today.
Helovaplan is in the favoured one stall but, form wise, is stuck in class 4, while the three-year-old Irreverent (from stall 4) has won only at 7f, losing each of two races over a mile by five or six lengths.
In the end I went for Ibraz, who goes up with the pace, so Fayez – giving 7lb – may have difficulty getting away from him, assuming he tries to assert.
First run after being being gelded, Ibraz, a winner twice last summer, was beaten only a neck by the improver Qaysar (90 up to 100), who ran well in a big York handicap last week.
That makes 3.0 BETDAQ offer Ibraz look underrated off 93 for Roger Varian and Jim Crowley.
DAQMAN’S BETS
3.20 Ripon (win 10)
BET 7pts win SOUTHERN ROCK
3.40 Epsom (win 10)
BET 1.25pts win BRANCASTER
3.55 Ripon (win 20)
BET 3.25pts win OH PURPLE REIGN
4.15 Epsom (win 10)
BET 3pts win CROSSED BATON
4.30 Ripon (win 20)
BET 10pts win (nap) IBRAZ
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
