TWO-YEAR-OLD ‘CLASSICS’ THIS WEEK: Daqman is preparing a week of previews for York next week but starts by setting the two-year-olds’ scene, with ratings as he sees them before tomorrow’s Fortune Cookies list. Coolmore already has the favourites for Guineas and Derby but Daqman currently lines up with the stamina credentials of a Frankel colt.
TODAY: Three bets on Monday to start the week and they were all trading at the same price on BETDAQ this morning!
DIEGO HAS DERBY CREDENTIALS
YORK is just around the corner and I shall be lining up my Fortune Cookies and previewing the Juddmonte International in the next few days.
But before then the spotlight remains firmly on the two-year-olds, with weekend Group races, the Curragh Futurity and the Prix Morny at Deauville, likely to add strength to the list of leading juvenile players below, with my personal ratings.
Coolmore’s surging sire, Wootton Bassett, dominates the two-year-olds after the Phoenix Stakes victory of Bucanero Fuerte at the Curragh on Saturday.
He’s closely followed by Coolmore America’s Triple Crown star Justify with City Of Troy, only his second winner in England, but with his French-trained filly Ramatuelle lining up on Sunday in the Morny.
Juddmonte’s Frankel, sole sire to top Dubawi in the decade (2021), only to lose top spot back to him last year, looks set for middle-distance success from the later foal, Diego Velazquez, ironically targeting the Wootton Bassett Futurity at the Curragh on Saturday. It’s all Coolmore, isn’t it, and no doubt with unknowns still to come.
But if I were to pick a Derby winner at this stage, it would be ‘Diego’, the Frankel colt with a tough stamina seam on the dam’s side.
Diego Velazquez, a 240,000gns yearling, was only finding his gears at the end of his 7f maiden on Saturday and, if I trained him, I would wait for the one-mile Doncaster Futurity in October, then put him away for an Epsom trial.
118 CITY OF TROY (Aidan O’Brien) March foal, Justify; dam sister to Oaks winner.
114 BUCANERO FUERTE (Adrian Murray) February, Wootton Bassett; brother to Abbaye winner.
111 RIVER TIBER (Aidan O’Brien) February, Wootton Bassett; 6f to 1m winners.
110 DIEGO VELAZQUEZ (Aidan O’Brien) April, Frankel; related to Broome
110 UNQUESTIONABLE (Aidan O’Brien) April, Wootton Bassett; dam Sea The Stars mare
104 ELITE STATUS (Karl Burke) January, Havana Grey; 5f/6f winners dam’s side.
104 RAMATUELLE (Christopher Head) February, Justify; first foal out of Raven’s Pass mare.
FIRE FIGHTING
⭕ 7.30 Windsor I tried hard to find a bet in the previous race but ended up wanting to file it in the ‘too difficult to solve’ category.
Mezon won on debut at Leicester in a race where the form hasn’t worked out too well. She now needs to follow up under a penalty which isn’t easy at the best of times in this calibre of race.
She is also a short price on Betdaq Betting Exchange so the instinct was to try and oppose her. The problem is finding a strong alternative. Mezon holds Flying Kiss on Leicester form and whilst the Gosdens trained Cover Up is likely to do better over the minimum trip, his form to date over seven has been deeply disappointing and he was beaten 28 lengths at Lingfield last time out.
The only bet on the card comes in this 7.30pm handicap where the Nigel Tinkler trained Goblet Of Fire can complete a fast ground hat-trick. He has been stepped up again in distance but showed at Yarmouth last time out a strong finishing burst over a furlong shorter and whilst up 6lb in weight he could be even more effective over this trip.
It’s a modest event. Twoforthegutter is his chief market rival, however this one remains a maiden after seven starts and even the assistance of William Buick is not convincing me to backing him.
Angel Of Peace looked the main danger to the selection but this one was taken out mid-morning.
GAINING GROUND
⭕ 7.40 Hamilton A decent class three handicap on an otherwise modest day of racing. It’s also a north versus south battle at the top of the market with William Haggas sending up Dubawi Warrior. She romped home at Pontefract last time out making all the running and scoring easily. The handicapper is taking no chances however with a starting mark of 80 and he looks a little under priced in the market – particularly as he has two solid rivals in Shine On Brendan and Gainsbourg who are both coming into this on the back of recent wins.
Jim Goldie’s Shine On Brendan has won two of his last three races and seems versatile ground wise. The selection for me though has to be Gainsbourg who won by five lengths last time out and was eased down in the closing stages.
He seems to be revitalised by the blinkers and can defy the rise in the weights.
SLAINTE THE HAMILTON QUEEN
⭕ 8.10 Hamilton Slainte Mhath has a very creditable win to run ratio of five from 14 and clearly likes it here at Hamilton where she has scored three times over this trip.
She again gets her ground and will prove hard to beat – despite racing off a career high handicap mark.
She came up against Impressor last time out at Hamilton who is in a rich vein of form. We’ll get a chance to see whether that form gets a boost when Impressor runs in the opener on the card this evening.
I expect Slainte Mhath to confirm the form with Iris Dancer who was third in that race.
DAQMAN’S BETS: (all selections trading at the same price on BETDAQ when selected)
7.30 Windsor (win 10)
BET 5.0pts win GOBLET OF FIRE
7.40 Hamilton (win 10)
BET 5.0pts win GAINSBOURG
8.10 Hamilton (win 10, nap)
BET 5.0pts win SLAINTE MHATH
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