A THIRD WINNING NAP THIS WEEK: Daqman’s winner-a-day sequence went into a fourth day yesterday, as he landed his third nap of the week.
WON 5-4 FUNAMBULE SIVOLA (Friday nap)
WON 11-4 TOMMY DE VITO (Thursday nap)
WON 4-6 BLUE TRAIL (Tuesday supernap)
Daqman leads Pricewise 25-13 and his Lays Logic is 6-6
DAQMAN’S GREAT YORKSHIRE GUIDE: The Great Yorkshire has been around in various guises since 1948 and, with diminished fields for Cheltenham Trials day, catches the punter’s eye for a flutter. Will it go the way of the stats – a horse high in the weights on the prevailing good ground – or are there unexposed ‘hidden horses’ lower down worth a bet at big BETDAQ offers?
CANELO GETS IN LIGHTLY
⭕ 3.20 Doncaster (Great Yorkshire Chase, 3m) STATS Eight out of the last 10 winners have carried 10st 11lb or more, and good ground this afternoon gives the higher weights an even stronger chance.
RATINGS: Last four winners off 145-151. AGE: 9 and 10yo together 5-9. TRAINERS: Nigel Twiston-Davies 3, Alan King 2, Paul Nicholls 2. JOCKEYS: Tom Bellamy 2. FAVOURITES 1-10. Runners in ratings order (with G x good-ground wins):
155 Nuts Well (3G) Best form at Aintree: won the Old Roan Chase and second there in a Grade 1. Has never raced beyond 2m 4f and is 11 now.
151 Fusil Raffles (3G) Raced mainly 2m to 2m 4f; three out of four still standing as a novice; stepped up in trip and class to win 3m Charlie Hall at Wetherby before fourth in the Winter Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
148 Cloudy Glen Best form on good-to-soft, runner-up to Mount Ida in the Kim Muir and won the Ladbrokes Trophy (3m 2f) at Newbury after a wind op. Raised 10lb and PU latest, and may need more time to bounce back.
148 Janika Best form: runner-up in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham and 4th in the Topham at Aintree before winning a Grade 2 at Exeter (all in 2019). Not placed for almost two years and beaten 86 lengths (hurdle) in his only 3m start.
145 Midnight Shadow (2G) Won the Scottish Champion Hurdle (2018) on good ground and held Protektorat threeparts of a length (Cheltenham good) in a fast time for the 2021 Autumn Gold Cup before third in the Winter Gold Cup (up 7lb). In 11 chases, has never raced at 3m.
144 Windsor Avenue (1G) Decent novice in 2019. Back to form after ratings slide, second to subsequent Becher winner, Snow Leopardess, at Bangor in November (3m soft).
143 Some Chaos (6G) Class-2 chase winner three times up to 3m 2f but pulled up the last twice after taking a veterans’ chase in November.
140 Demachine Good to soft novice-chase winner and second in the Reynoldstown. Unexposed after just 10 races (six chases) and Ladbrokes Trophy fifth behind Cloudy Glen led to his starting favourite the last day but unseated first fence.
140 Hill Sixteen (1G) Progressive for Nigel Twiston-Davies before switch to Sandy Thomson, for whom beaten only a nose by Snow Leopardess in the Becher Chase in December. Always rear, pulled up Welsh Grand National after.
139 Kapcourse (1G) Steady improver despite being injury-prone; most success on good, good to soft. Two of three chase wins were in same race at Newbury (2m 6f). Not raced at 3m nor bred to.
137 Canelo (1G) Rowland Meyrick winner (3m Grade 3, 2020) from Snow Leopardess. Fourth in today’s race 11lb higher on soft, and said to have done very well in himself, so better expected off this mark from a stronger horse in sounder conditions.
137 Rocco (2G) Surprise Badger Beer winner (40-1) at Wincanton on good ground (Hurricane Harvey third, Cap Du Nord fourth). Made mistakes at Cheltenham the last day but loves a flat track and a sound surface.
137 Storm Control (1G) Took advantage of slide down the handicap to score at Newbury but back up the weights now.
136 Grand Sancy (5G) Has dropped 16lb down the handicap; likes the ground, and now 11lb better off with stablemate Kapcourse for seven lengths at Newbury, running fourth there after a wind op.
135 Debece Better than the bare form. Second at Sandown after a wind op to one placed in the Peter Marsh.
129 Cap Du Nord (2G) Beat Canelo at Newbury 14 months ago, receiving 18lb, and was the gamble when third in the Great Yorkshire last year (Canelo fourth). Cheekpieces left off.
DAQMAN’S VERDICT: 1 Canelo, 2 Demachine, 3 Fusil Raffles.
BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE 6.9 Fusil Raffles, 8.3 Demachine, 8.4 Debece, 10.5 Storm Control, 11.5 Cap Du Nord, 13.5 Midnight Shadow, 14.5 Kapcorse, 15.5 Hurricane Harvey, 19.5 Canelo (9 a.m. offers).
BRANDY BEST OF THE DAY
⭕ 1.40 Fairyhouse (Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle) Brandy Love’s jumping impressed me at Naas over 2m, and I said then that she wanted further.
I haven’t had to wait long for this step up in trip and I expected her to win this Willie Mullins private gallop: he has four runners, all getting 7lb from Lunar Display. Napped at 2.42 on BETDAQ.
⭕ 1.55 Cheltenham Nine of Coole Cody’s last 10 races have been at Cheltenham, including when winner of the Winter Gold Cup, with Great Yorkshire contenders (see above) Midnight Shadow and Fusil Raffles third and fourth. But he’s looking decidedly overworked.
Torn And Frayed has to make the leap from novice-hurdle winner and novice-chase placed to a Grade-3 handicap.
Whatmore has been in the first four for nine consecutive races; fourth in a handicap at Cheltenham 2020; runner-up in the Autumn Gold Cup at Ascot and the Rehearsal Chase. But he’s won only one, a three-horse affair (two finished).
Jacamar managed to win a novice chase only when dropped from Graded level. Farient needs rain.
The one I fancy at a price is Spiritofthegames, back to the right trip; in fact, runner-up in this race last time it was run in 2020 but now 11lb lower plus a 5lb claim. BETDAQ 12.0.
RIGHT COULD CALL HOUSE
⭕ 2.30 Cheltenham (Cotswold Chase) Chantry House, talking horse of the King George (never in the picture; pulled up), has to bounce back.
If you think he will, you can get 17.0 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the BETDAQ Sportsbook this morning. Aye Right and Santini, who test him today, are both 66.0 for March.
Aye Right (BETDAQ 5.8), a game winner of the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle in November, was third in the Ultima on the Old Course here at the festival.
Santini, the Gold Cup second to Al Boum Photo in 2020, blundered and pulled up in the race last year, and needs to bounce back from his Cotswold win of 2020 when under Nicky Henderson’s tutelage. Simply The Betts doesn’t stay this far.
⭕ 3.05 Cheltenham (Cleeve Hurdle) The 2020 RSA winner, Champ, landed the Long Walk on his return to hurdling, with Paisley Park five lengths down in third (Lisnagar Oscar pulled up).
McFabulous was Relkeel winner at Kempton in 2020 and runner-up when it was restored to Cheltenham on New Year’s Day. Wind ops may narrow the gap with the Champ but it’s 10lb on official ratings.
DAQMAN’S BETS
1.40 Fairyhouse (win 12, nap)
BET 8pts win BRANDY LOVE
1.55 Cheltenham (win 50)
BULL’S-EYE BET 4.5pts win SPIRITOFTHEGAMES
2.30 Cheltenham (win 20)
BET 4pts win AYE RIGHT
3.20 Doncaster (win 50, plus 2 x win 20)
BULL’S-EYE BET: 2.75pts win CANELO
BET 3.25pts win FUSIL RAFFLES
BET 2.75pts win DEMACHINE
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.
