DAQMAN FOLLOWS 10-1 NAP WITH 8.4 BETDAQ VALUE: Daqman, who hit a magnificent sequence of nine winning naps out of 11 in July, was interrupted by a non-runner yesterday after a 10-1 winning start to August. Today he finds one at 8.4 offers on Betdaq this morning. He’s also tempted to try a small-stakes yankee, since it seems it be fashionable this week!
Give me the tools and I will do the job. Lack of quality and runners spaced out over 11 cards in two days makes value-hunting hard, particularly with going changes.
Meanwhile, I shall rise to the bait of the success of my colleague Shamrock and try a small-stakes yankee, though my plotting four-and-a-half hours from Brighton to Newmarket is no match for his 65-minute blitz!
3.30 Brighton: With three potential front-runners (Aye Aye Digby, Clear Ice and Titus Gent), they’ll be struggling to get home on the soft, and so I’m choosing between horses with a bit of extra stamina on their CVs and which can act on the ground.
Ajjaad has won on soft and scored at Ascot at this level, though has crept up the ratings as a result; Katmai River gets behind and his wins have been over 7f but he loves it soft and should be eating up the ground on the final climb.
Spanish Acclaim was staying on (good to soft) over Epsom’s 5f, which equates with Brighton’s, when third a fortnight ago and is a dual winner over 6f, from a stable doing well this year. His draw, usually a negative, can turn into a positive when the ground has cut in it.
There have been no winners of this race over the age of four, which confirms my selection, for Spanish Acclaim, a sporting nap at 8.4 on Betdaq this morning.
6.00 Haydock (Betdaq The Betting Exchange Apprentice Training Series): I came to this race, hoping to find a soft-ground stand-alone who would give one of the boy jockeys an armchair ride.
But, Indochina and Sennockian Storm apart, there is evidence for most of the runners to act on a soft terrain. I’m adding Indefinite Hope to the black list on the grounds that we can’t hope indefinitely that Frank Sheridan will get a winner!
I’ve ended up with the Racing Post joint-top ratings, Muwalla and Dancing Primo, and I think they’re right: I can’t split them, so maybe Muwalla is the better value at 5.2 offers this morning.
6.35 Haydock: Richard Hannon has a stinking record here: 468 days without a winner (39 consecutive losers) – which doesn’t instill much confidence in Gusto – the absolute contrary to Tom Dascombe (Brubeck), who is showing a level-stakes profit at the track with eight winners.
But the well-entered-up Glen Moss is chosen as my day’s banker for the yankee on the strength of his good second at Ascot and trainer Barry Hills’ 40% record with two-year-olds at Haydock.
7.30 Newmarket: Figaro and Ryton Runner are first time in a handicap for trainers who excel in placing their horses to step up from maidens and win: Gosden has a 22% success rate, Haggas 28%. So I’m dutching this pair to beat the favourite, Proud Chieftain.
8.00 Newmarket: With Al Kazeem a non-runner, and Halfsin a keen-running type, this seems between Moriarty and Roayh, who both have performed at Group level.
Roayh is out at 6.2 (offers of 9.2 before Al Kazeem came out) in the Betdaq market but then Godolphins are often easy to back, and what stops me parting with my money on Moriarty is that his defeat at Ascot was put down to the soft ground. So I’m finally persuaded to give Roayh a spin.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 2.7pts win (nap) SPANISH ACCLAIM (3.30 Brighton)
DOUBLE WHAMMY: LAY to win 10pts GUSTO and 10pts win GLEN MOSS (6.35 Haydock)
LAY to win 10pts PROUD CHIEFTAIN, and BET 4.2pts win RYTON RUNNER and 3.8pts win FIGARO (7.30 Newmarket)
BET 3.8pts win ROAYH (8.00 Newmarket)
DAQ YANKEE: Spanish Acclaim (3.30 Brighton), Muwalla (6.00 Haydock), Glen Moss (6.35 Haydock), Roayh (8.00 Newmarket)
