DOUBLE-GOLD DAQMAN 300 UP: Daqman landed his Pot Of Gold triple-value bet on the first day of Aintree yesterday plus a 30-point gold banker, with two wins over Pricewise of the Racing Post taking him to 3-0 for the new season and the 300 up overall. He now leads Pricewise 300-116.
THREE WINNERS OUT OF FOUR: Daqman was nearly 80 points up in half an hour when he landed the first two winners and followed up with his banker to give him three from four races. The day’s haul was:
WON 4-1 Arzal (pot-of-gold value 7.0 Betdaq)
WON 3-1 Apple’s Jade (5.3 Betdaq)
WON 4-9 Annie Power (gold-banker nap)
3rd 8-1 Vicomte Du Noyer, bull’s-eye bet win and place (9.4 Betdaq)
JUST FOLLOW THE HEADLINES: Daqman is the man who makes his own headlines. Here are yesterday’s and today’s:
Yesterday’s Aintree headlines
- POT OF GOLD WAITING FOR PATIENT ARZAL (WON 4-1)
- MULLINS WILL BE LAUGHING LITTLE APPLE’S (WON 3-1)
- ANNIE CAN POWER HOME A GOLD BANKER (WON 4-9)
- VICONTE DU NOYER LOOKS A HIDDEN HORSE (3rd 8-1)
Today’s Aintree headlines
- MULLINS CAN BLAZER TRAIL AT AINTREE..
- LIMINI LOOKS ANOTHER BANKER, LADIES!
- BLAKLION MILDMAY VALUE AT 4.0 ON BETDAQ
- VATICANE TO CAP ANOTHER MARES’ DAY
- MULLINS AGAIN BUT DON’T FORGET THE DUKE
TAKE 32.0 MIDWEEK FOR THE 1,000 GUINEAS
Take a break from midweek jumping for a moment. A handsome daughter of Motivator caught my eye in the Prix Imprudence at Maisons yesterday, the most important of the early fillies’ Classic tests in France.
Midweek is trained by Criquette Head-Maarek, who likes to prime one for our 1,000 Guineas. Sure enough, she was the only Newmarket entry in yesterday’s race, and is by the same stallion as the stable’s Arc ‘monster’, Treve.
Midweek was sent to the front on an obvious learning curve – she’d raced only twice before and been off the track 203 days – looking about her a bit and wandering in the final furlong as Spectre sluiced by in the mud.
Next time, Newmarket, for which you could get 32.0 on BETDAQ this morning. Take it to win 100.
MULLINS CAN BLAZER TRAIL AT AINTREE..
1.40 Aintree Nicky Henderson is two out of three, and his Theinval won last year. But he has a double penalty, which has been carried only once in the decade.
Theinval was a long way behind at Cheltenham in the Cup race in which Blazer was fourth, the step up in trip suiting Willie Mullins five-year-old, who will also appreciate the easier surface today.
Mullins’s Listed Punchestown winner Whiteout might have been closer if there had been some ease in the ground at Cheltenham that day.
Stepping up in distance today is Starchitect, Grade-3 runner-up in a big field at Newbury, but David Pipe’s horses usually get an aggressive ride and there’ s nothing in his pedigree which suggests this trip.
There’s not much at the weights between Ibis Du Rheu and Shy Khan on Cheltenham form but an easier surface favours Ibis, as Paul Nicholls struggles to hold on to his title against the Mullins assault.
Nicholls’ other runner, San Benedeto, was placed in a Grade 2 at Fontwell (Melodic Rendezvous behind).
Peter Bowen does well at this meeting and Curious Carlos ran well here last year, his second spot that day spoiling a four-timer. The stable is in form, and Carlos is the hidden horse of the race after 231 days off. May not want much more rain.
The 2014 winner, Clondaw Kaempfer is a bit long in the tooth for this, His trainer, Don McCain, did well yesterday, appropriately with the Red Rum Chase winner, though I think our bet, Viconte Du Noyer, might have won had he not been hampered.
Tycoon Prince is consistent and Ma Du Fou has been progressive. The second horse home in his Listed win at Huntingdon ran above himself in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle but rapped a hurdle when he seemed likely to be involved.
Virgilio was a CD winner in January and could bounce back but this opener depends very much on the ground, and you’d have to look further down the handicap if there is more rain to where Richard Johnson is an eye-catching booking for Jonjo O’Neills’ Champagne At Tara.
VERDICT: Any one of half a dozen could win this so we look to the stats and the going for help, and it would seem we need a horse with a liking for cut, aged five or six (collectively 8 out of 10 over older horses in the decade).
Although his record in handicaps is nowhere near his stakes-race prowess, Willie Mullins has two in here which will be hard to keep out of the frame f not jaded after long seasons: so, win and place Blazer (10.0 this morning) and Whiteout (19.5).
LIMINI LOOKS ANOTHER BANKER , LADIES!
2.15 Aintree Nicky Henderson again. His form-figures in this one since 2010 are 10111 and his Buveur d’Arc, third in the Supreme Novices, looks a strong solo defender against a three-pronged Mullins’ assault.
After Annie Power and Apple’s Jade yesterday, Willie has yet another star mare, Limini, in this one. She took a lesser race, a Grade-2 at Cheltenham, but was impressive on the fast ground, equally so on heavy before that.
Limini takes on the boys here on Ladies Day, with a 7lb allowance, just as Apple’s Jade did yesterday, a valuable concession if the ground reads soft.
Agrapart stormed away from Starchitect in a Grade-3 handicap at Newbury, and swerved Cheltenham for this, but had been put in his place by a Mullins’ horse in the Grade-1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown.
BLAKLION MILDMAY VALUE AT 4.0 ON BETDAQ
2.50 Aintree (Mildmay Novices Chase) Strange that, in a race won by Big Buck’s and Silviniaco Conti – two of his four winners since 2006 – Paul Nicholls doesn’t have a runner.
Curiouser and curiouser, since he was saying during his poor spell in December-January that he had a lot of quality youngsters for next season.
Horses over seven rarely win this, or any such high-quality novice event, and this field can be halved, with Out Sam – a disappointment for us when switching races at Cheltenham – a good 10lb and more behind these.
So, are Un Temps Pour Tout, Native River and Roi des Francs any threat to Blaklion (4.0 this morning), who stormed up the hill to win the RSA at Cheltenham, this heavy-ground Wetherby winner showing that he’s even more at home when it’s fast? I think the answer is ‘No;’ He looks value at 4.0.
Roi des Francs is unlikely to reverse the 20 lengths or so that Blaklion beat him at Cheltenham; and ,when Un Temps Our Tout won the Ultima at Cheltenham, out-and-out stayers filled the places and his forceful tactics won the day.
Native River, only third to Blaklion at Wetherby, had galloped away from UnTemps Pour Trout at Newbury in November.
Native River hits a flat spot in his races and looked more at home in the NH Chase (4m) at Cjheltenham and, at only six, could be a Grand National horse in a couple of years or so.
3.25 Aintree (Melling Chase) Old warhorses Al Ferof and Somersby are unlikely to threaten Vautour in a race won recently by Sprinter Sacre and Don Cossack. Make Vautour a hub in your Daq Multiples.
VATICANE TO CAP ANOTHER MARES’ DAY
4.05 Aintree (Topham Trophy) Just eight of the 22 Fox Hunters got round over these Grand National fences yesterday but the favourite won.
Now we’ve got 30 for the Topham – the third race today to be dominated by Nicky Henderson (1FU00111 in the decade) – and we’re likely to lose 20 of them somewhere out in the country.
As for the favourite, the first guess is which one is that going to be? Sometime today, something will be a plunge horse, surely, with the BETDAQ orange an incredible 13.0 the field at only 108% overround.
That begs for an early position, particularly if you can find a trade horse: Al Alfa, Bennys Mist, Bishops Road, Cocktails At Dawn, Corrin Wood, and Gullinbursti have all been front-runners on and off, and hold-up horses may find themselves with a lot to do.
Bennys Mist, Eastlake, Fairy Rath, Rathlin and Ruben Cotter have all finished in the first five in the Topham before.
At big offers, the mare La Vaticane (26.0) has been specially prepared for this; Dare To Endeavour (30.0) is a brilliant jumper who was placed in the Becher Chase over these fences in December; Corrin Wood (68.0) came back well from a break with the local stable firing at last.
MULLINS AGAIN BUT DON’T FORGET THE DUKE
4.40 Aintree (Sefton Novices’ Hurdle) Four more from Mullins to try to secure the odd £50,000 which could make all the difference to the title race, though so far I can’t see where Nicholls’ retaliation is coming from.
All down to tomorrow’s National maybe. Meanwhile, your guess is as good as mine, as to which Mullins novice is best here, with the handicapper separating Gangster and Bellshill by only a pound.
Best outsider could be Duke Des Champs (13.0 on BETDAQ) on his impressive performance in January before the Hobbs form fell away.
The team has had four winners this week, and this could be th big hit of its revival.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 30 unless a banker)
1.40 Aintree
BET 3pts win and place BLAZER, and 1.6pts win and place WHITEOUT
2.15 Aintree
BANKER: BET 20pts win (nap) LIMINI (2.15 Aintree)
2.50 Aintree
BET 10pts win BLAKLION
4.05 Aintree
BULL’S-EYE BETS (win 50): 2pts win and place LA VATICANE, 1.75pts win and place DARE TO ENDEAVOUR and 0.5pts win and place CORRIN WOOD
4.40 Aintree
BET 2.5pts win and place DUKE DES CHAMPS
DAQ MULTIPLES: 3 x 3pts win doubles and 1pt win treble Limini (2.15 Aintree), Blaklion (2.50 Aintree), Vautour (3.25 Aintree)
ANTE-POST TON-UP BET (to win 100): 3.2pts win MIDWEEK (Newmarket 1,000 Guineas, May 1)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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