FIVE WINNERS IN FOUR DAYS: Winner-a-day Daqman landed a lion’s share of the profits again yesterday. Today he has a strong nap at Fontwell, and wants to land a first at Southwell on the day the track switches to Tapeta.
Monday
WON 6-4 DARWELL LION
Sunday
WON 7-2 ALLAHO
Saturday
WON 4-1 PROTEKTORAT
WON 2-1 TAMAR BRIDGE
Friday
WON 5-2 L’HOMME PRESSE
HORSES WITH A BIG FUTURE: Daqman’s horses-to-follow – the Fortune Cookies – are completed today with BETDAQ prices for their participation in future big events.
THE FORTUNE COOKIES XI
FORTUNE COOKIES: I’ve not been very keen on trial results on the autumn ground to complete my horses-to-follow list, and have waited on the best Irish winners on a winter surface.
Here’s the final combination, hopefully a tough and talented X1. One runner, one winner, so far: Protektorat, named as a Cookie before his Aintree strike at 4-1.
Allaho (Willie Mullins): See Monday’s Daqman. Half a dozen possibilities, some with Sportsbook ante-post prices:
BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE 8.0 King George, Boxing Day, but also engaged December 27, 28 Leopardstown; 3.0 Ryanair Chase, Cheltenham, but also engaged 8.0 Champion Chase, 17.0 Gold Cup.
A Plus Tard (Henry de Bromhead): Savills Chase, Leopardstown, December 28; he’s 4.0 on BETDAQ for the Gold Cup, Cheltenham, March 18.
Blazing Khal (Charles Byrnes): Albert Bartlett Novices Hurdle, Cheltenham, Saturday, December 11.
Bravemansgame (Paul Nicholls): Ryanair Chase or Stayers Hurdle, Cheltenham, March 17
Edwardstone (Alan King) Impressive physique, impressive Henry V111 chase winner, nearly three seconds faster than Greaneteen won the Tingle Creek 35 minutes later.
Kingmaker at Warwick may be next step on the way to the Arkle, for which Third Time Lucki was the leading British hope before he trailed in 16 and more lengths behind Edwardstone at Sandown.
Fil d’Or (Gordon Elliott): Chepstow, December 27
Good Risk At All (Sam Thomas): Next race to be announced.
Janadil (Willie Mullins) See Monday’s Daqman: 13.0 BETDAQ, Ryanair Chase, Cheltenham.
Jonbon (Nicky Henderson): Kempton, December 26; he’s 4.5 on BETDAQ for the Supreme Novices Hurdle, Cheltenham.
Protektorat (Dan Skelton): WON (4-1) the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree. Marked for Savills Chase, Leopardstown, December 28.
Vanillier (Gavin Cromwell): Limerick, December 26, or Leopardstown, December 29.
▪️ Results so far: 1-1 (40 points profit to 10pts level stake)
SANDS OF TIME RUN OUT
What have they done to Southwell! I’m delighted to see the track go Tapeta today: I warned in this column yonks ago from my American connections how much safer Tapeta is; how much more reliable the results.
But backers – pro punters and pound pickers alike – all loved the bias in the draw from the tight turning Southwell oval, which took no prisoners as they railed round, sticking to the track like the last train from Rolleston Junction.
I owned a winner there on grass when they called it ‘Suthull’; now it’s South-well gone posh.. and now gone Tapeta.
But they’ve copied Dundalk and inserted a cutaway rail at the top of the straight, quite rightly saying this will allow horses to fan out and use more of the width of the course.
There will be more tactical races than the ‘one-dimensional’ ones on fibresand, says a spokesman. Thanks for that!
⭕ 5.30 Southwell (Winter Oaks Trial) New track, new race. The £100,000 Winter Oaks here next month trials today with this £40,000 fillies’ handicap.
Viola and Lower Street have both won twice on Polytrack; One Last Dance and Samara Star once each; but Virgin Snow has been placed on Tapeta at Newcastle.
That was a Group 3; she drops a couple of grades here and was a winner first time in June after another long break.
But I prefer the trainer to the horse when it comes to AW racing; Roger Varian runs very few but is 33% at both Chelmsford and Kempton and his Southwell strike rate is 50% this season, 26% over five years.
Timeless Soul has never been out of a place, trains on an AW strip and is drawn 1. With Virgin Soul drawn wide, Timeless Soul could slip inside on that cutaway? Just like old times..
BETDAQ value 4.2 Timeless Soul
FOLLOW THE BAILEY PLAN
THE NAP? Could it be Hamilton Dici (1.50 Fontwell)? Well placed here to use the four-year-old allowance by Kim Bailey, who took the scalps of Eldorado Allen, Master Tommytucker an Allmankind with First Flow in the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon at the weekend.
Or could the nap be Get the Appeal (2.50 Fontwell), with Paul Nicholls in blinding form, 14 winners in 14 days, with this his sole raider on southern territory.
Back to lower-class mares-only company on only her second try in a chase under rules, Get The Appeal, a Point winner and three times hurdles scorer, once over 2m 6f, will relish this longer chase trip.
The nap vote goes to Hamilton Dici, Kim Bailey’s first ever four-year-old runner over fences, bought specifically to go chasing with the four-year-old-allowance as an advantage.
BETDAQ value 3.65 Hamilton Dici; 3.6 Get The Appeal
DAQMAN’S BETS
1.50 Fontwell (win 12, nap)
BET 4.5pts win HAMILTON DICI
2.50 Fontwell (win 12)
BET 4.5pts win GET THE APPEAL
5.30 Southwell (win 12)
BET 4pts win TIMELESS SOUL
What are points? Points facilitate a staking plan, which is the secret to creating profit. One point is whatever you choose: a pound, a euro, or whatever ….
Start with a bank and decide how much you can afford to lose over a period of time, and determine the size of your bets accordingly. Daqman makes this variation every day.
