20-1 IRISH WARNING FOR NEXT WEEK: The Irish started as they mean to go on, when Kildare trainer Peter Fahey scooped the Imperial Cup yesterday with Suprise Package at Sandown; no ‘suprise’ to some at 20-1 and tinged with sadness for those ‘in the know’ that a bonus no longer exists for landing a double in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham next week. The nine-lengths winner yesterday may still complete that package next Friday on the Gold Cup card.

CHELTENHAM (COOKIES) COUNTDOWN: TODAY: Race-by-race Fortune Cookies for the festival next week, with ante-post offers taken. TOMORROW: The BETDAQ ways to bet.

THREE SUNDAY BETS: Daqman combines them in doubles and a treble too.

IRELAND SET FOR 16-12 WIN

FORTUNE COOKIES did their job well, creating a profitable sequence of trial winners before Cheltenham. We’ve had 15 winners, four seconds and just two unplaced. Now here’s how they may line up at the festival.

Daqman has nine of his 16 Fortune Cookies trained in Ireland. If that’s the right winning percentage to Ireland, then the Irish will win Cheltenham around 16-12, though some probables are still duplicated.

WWWWWW200WWWWW22WWW2W Profit to level stakes 95.74

CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL
ALLAHO (Willie Mullins) Ryanair, Thursday
BOB OLINGER (Henry De Bromhead) Turners Novices Chase, Thursday
BRAVEMANSGAME (Paul Nicholls) Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, Wednesday
DYSART DYNAMO (Willie Mullins) Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Tuesday, or Ballymore Novices Hurdle, Thursday
EDWARDSTONE (Alan King) Arkle Chase, Tuesday, at 13.0 ante-post.
FAROUK D’ALENE (Gordon Elliott) NH Chase, Tuesday, at 15.0, or Brown Advisory, Wednesday
FIL DOR (Gordon Elliott) Boodles Juvenile Hurdle, Tuesday, or Triumph Hurdle, Friday
GINTO (Gordon Elliott) Ballymore, Wednesday, or Albert Bartlett, Friday
JONBON (Nicky Henderson) Supreme Novices Hurdle, Tuesday
L’HOMME PRESSE (Venetia Williams) Brown Advisory, Wednesday
MOUNT IDA (Gordon Elliott) Mares Chase, Friday
PROTEKTORAT (Dan Skelton) Cheltenham Gold Cup, Friday, at 11.0
REDEMPTION DAY (Willie Mullins) Champion Bumper, Wednesday
ROYAL PAGAILLE (Venetia Williams) Cheltenham Gold Cup, Friday, at 21.0
STAGE STAR (Paul Nicholls) Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, Wednesday
STATTLER (Willie Mullins) NH Chase, Tuesday; Brown Advisory, Wednesday.

Prices taken in BETDAQ Sportsbook

JUMPING JACK AGAIN

⭕ 3.13 Bangor Small fields are the order of the day here on Sunday – biggest field of the afternoon is six but this class 3 handicap hurdle brings about what looks a fascinating clash between the unbeaten Jungle Jack and Harbour Lake who lost his unbeaten record when brought down (when held) last time out.

Jungle Jack could be hard to beat again. He is now 3/3 under Rules and 4/4 if you include his debut Point win. Judged by his latest effort here at Bangor when winning by 11 lengths he still appears to be improving too.

He was doing some good work at the end so shouldn’t be phased by the step up in trip and I think his handicap starting mark of 125 looks very workable.

Main danger on the BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE is Harbour Lake who won two races at Wetherby in good fashion before struggling when stepped up in class to Listed company at Huntingdon last time out. He would have finished last of four finishers but for the last flight fall of Wonderwall who brought him down. This should be a lot more realistic and he is rated just 1lb superior by the handicapper. Alan King is not in brilliant form though and this puts me off him a little.

GRATITUDE FOR LATITUDE

⭕ 4.23 Bangor I’m taking Latitude as Sunday’s nap and hopefully help build the Cheltenham betting bank. He is very lightly raced and looks to have plenty of potential.

Having shown good form in bumpers, including a Grade 3 win at Aintree he came out to win his first start over hurdles at Ludlow in January. He seemed to have plenty in hand when beating Hometown Hero by two lengths and that one came out to win next time out.

Silver Flyer won a weak race at Catterick on his hurdling debut and couldn’t build on that when second at Carlisle last month. His jumping wasn’t perfect that day either.

A bigger danger may come from Bridge North if you put a line through his latest run when pulled up with a breathing issue in a Grade 2 at Doncaster. His previous form would entitle him to win this but it’s just a question of whether he is back to his best.

POWER TO CUT LOOSE

⭕ 5.05 Warwick Twin Power did little wrong on debut when second to Rosy Redrum at Wincanton and the chances are that he just bumped into a smart one. The winner went on to run a big race subsequently at Newbury in a Listed bumper behind Top Dog who himself has an entry for Wednesday’s Champion Bumper.

He is preferred to Alan King’s Ernest Gray who has his first start for the yard having won a bumper at Punchestown on debut when trained in Ireland by Colin Bowe.

DAQMAN BETS (staked to win 10 points)
BET 7.3pts win JUMPING JACK (3.13 Bangor)
BET 10.0pts win (nap) LATITUDE (4.23 Bangor)
BET 7.2pts win TWIN POWER (5.05 Warwick)
PLUS
3 x 2pt win doubles and 1pt win treble

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.