THREE NAPS OUT OF FOUR: 50 UP! With two strikes from three bets yesterday, Daqman landed winning nap number 50 for the year (Arkenstaar at 11-8) to make it three best bets up out of the last four. Cloudy Rose (WON 15-8) was his other Wednesday winner.
WON 11-8 ARKENSTAAR (Wednesday nap)
WON 13-8 BEARWITH (Monday nap)
WON 4-5 DRUMROLL (Sunday nap)
DERBY COUNTDOWN: ABC GUIDE: If you still haven’t solved the Derby puzzle, here are clues galore in Daqman’s ABC guide to Saturday’s big lunchtime race.
ARREST TICKS DERBY BOXES
⭕ 1.30 Epsom, Saturday (The Derby)
DRAW: Results by stall 10, 12, 8, 9, 14, 10, 7, 12, 1, 12.
RATINGS (winner last 10 years): 109, 119, 118, 110, 109, 117, 118, -, 107, 117.
A RATING 108 or higher (9 out of 11)
B FORM Won Group race (9 out of 11)
C STAMINA on the racecourse or in the breeding lines.
D TRAINER Aidan O’Brien 8, Sir Michael Stoute 6, John Gosden 2, Charlie Appleby 2.
E EXPERIENCE Two to four races only (9/12)
ABCD AUGUSTE RODIN (Aidan O’Brien) Three wins in a row last year, including the Doncaster Futurity, though the second horse home, Epictetus, was only fifth in the Dante Stakes, and Auguste Rodin was 12th of 14 in the 2,000 Guineas; suffered early interference and ground was slow but has to bounce back. See Dubai Mile.
ABCD ARREST (John and Thady Gosden) Frankel colt for Frankie Dettori’s last Derby. Galloper with a big stride; eased to the front and readily won Chester Vase six lengths and 10 lengths from Adelaide River. See Dubai Mile.
ABCE WHITE BIRCH (John Joseph Murphy) Ballysax winner on heavy and beaten only a neck in the Dante on firm, a similar 10-furlong trip. Son of Eclipse and York International winner, Ulysses, who saw out 1m 4f well to be placed in the King George and the Arc, on both occasions overpowered by Enable. See The Foxes.
ABC SPREWELL (Jessica Harrington) Churchill colt who came to prominence when winning the Leopardstown Derby Trial (1m 2f soft-heavy), going clear of Up And Under, who was earlier just held by White Birch in the Ballysax (same course; similar trip and ground; but slower time).
ABC THE FOXES (Andrew Balding) Royal Lodge winner (1m good) in September and, kept on, second in the Craven Stakes on reappearance.
Won the Dante, which often throws up the Derby winner, beating White Birch a neck, with Passenger in a dead-heat for third place, and Dear My Friend 8th of 11. See Dubai Mile and Passenger.
AB DUBAI MILE (Charlie Johnson) Half-length Royal Lodge runner-up to The Foxes, and won a battle with Arrest on heavy ground for the Criterium de Saint-Cloud (1m 2f, heavy) in October, with Adelaide River six lengths third and Covent Garden 8th of 9. Kept on, fifth, in the 2,000 Guineas, when Auguste Rodin was 12th.
ACDE MILITARY ORDER (Charlie Appleby) Full brother to Derby winner, Adayar, by Frankel out of a Dubawi mare. Won the Lingfield Derby Trial (1m 4f, switched to AW) in fast time, beating a solid Newmarket winner, Waipiro.
ACDE PASSENGER (Sir Michael Stoute) Like White Birch, a son of Ulysses; continually denied clear run when dead-heat third in the Dante and subsequently supplemented for Epsom. The trainer’s last three Derby winners ran in the Dante.
ACE WAIPIRO (Ed Walker) Australia colt; won well at Newmarket and chased home Military Order in the Lingfield Derby Trial, nearly five lengths clear of the remainder.
CDE SAN ANTONIO (Aidan O’Brien) Dubawi colt out of a Galileo mare who was second in the Irish Oaks. Won the Dee Stakes at Chester – slow time on soft – from Alder. Rated 106.
CD ADELAIDE RIVER (Aidan O’Brien) Four times placed in Group races and rated 105. See Arrest and Dubai Mile.
CD COVENT GARDEN (Aidan O’Brien) See Dubai Mile.
CE ARTISTIC STAR (Ralph Beckett) Back-to-back winner over a mile (October) and 1m 2f on soft (May) but full sister Forbearance needed fast ground. Coolmore-bred late Galileo foal who is a likely improver.
CD KING OF STEEL (Roger Varian) Giant 17-hands two-year-old; 7th of 8 to Auguste Rodin in Doncaster Futurity. Easy debut winner for David Loughnane; changed stables and the Derby is first run for new yard.
C ALDER (Donnacha O’Brien) Third to Auguste Rodin in Leopardstown Champions Juvenile and second to San Antonio at Chester: 104 rated.
C DEAR MY FRIEND (Charlie Johnston) Experienced (3-7) son of soft-ground sire Pivotal but won on firm as a juvenile: 104 rated. See The Foxes.
GHARA TO BOOST TEAM GOSDEN
⭕ 3.30 Yarmouth Two colts and a filly from three stables with fancied horses in the Derby make up half this field of maidens.
Even among the most hardened and experienced trainers a winner in Derby week is a confidence booster for the Classic races at Epsom this Friday and Saturday.
John and Thady Gosden have had six winners in the last five days and I fancy them for a double on the eve of the Oaks at ‘Newmarket by the sea’, as Yarmouth is known.
Ghara ran fourth in the Lingfield Oaks Trial only a couple of lengths off Eternal Hope who will take her chance in the fillies’ Classic tomorrow.
Ghara, whose stable won this maiden last year, wouldn’t look out of place at Epsom; nor perhaps would Sir Michael Stoute’s Liable. Both are by Frankel.
Kemari won today’s race (2020) before taking the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot and Title won it the following year on way to a place in the King Edward V11 Stakes at the royal meeting.
⭕ 4.00 Yarmouth Oisin Murphy, who rides in the maiden for another Derby trainer, Charlie Johnston (he sends Dear My Friend to Epsom), now switches to Team Gosden, for whom he has a 37% strike rate.
Lady Eros, a $345,000 War Front yearling, was well there two out, despite the soft ground, in an Ascot handicap two weeks back. She’s returning to a mile on a sound surface here. BETDAQ 4.1.
Ed Walker’s Bling On The Music won on fast ground in the autumn and looks the main danger, with the next three in the market all getting long in the tooth at six, eight and nine years old.
IMPERIAL HAS THEIR MEASURE
⭕ 4.20 Ripon Nigwa, who broke her maiden here, returns to that winning trip after a big-field neck defeat dropped back a furlong at Hamilton, giving 5lb to the winner.
Poets Dawn and Baryshnikov have both finished third in the last three days. You’re betting that both ate up well and are raring to go again but there’s no evidence in their past form that this is what they want.
Cockalorum, who is used to class-2 racing, had every right to win for the second time here in April, dropped to class 4.
He’s scored twice in a week before now but that win was six weeks ago, so not kept fresh but let down and starting again today.
Pisanello has finished in the frame six times in seven starts but steps up in trip here.
Taylor Fisher has ridden four winners this year for Archie Watson, and Imperial Sands was unlucky in running at Newmarket, this time last year.
He’s won twice on AW since, including a four-length defeat of 99-rated Sir Dancealot at Kempton.
Including Fisher’s 5lb claim, Imperial Sands will be racing off 85 today, 17lb lower than his AW mark. Betdaq Betting Exchange 14.5 to win; 3.2 a place.
DAQMAN’S BETS
3.30 Yarmouth (win 12 nap)
BET 12pts win GHARA
4.00 Yarmouth (win 12)
BET 4pts win LADY EROS
4.20 Ripon (win-50 bulls-eye bet)
BET 3.75pts win, 4.2pts place IMPERIAL SANDS
BET 5.5pts win NIGWA (to win 10)
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.
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