PORTER BECOMES CHAMPAGNE FOR DAQMAN AT 15.5 ON BETDAQ: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Daqman landed two of the big irish winners yesterday, taking him 35-20 up on Pricewise and 269 points clear for a final day which includes the only supernap of the week.
✔️ WON 12-1 FLOORING PORTER (from 15.5 on BETDAQ) pictured above
✔️ WON 9-4 THE SHUNTER (2nd 5-1 FARCLAS same race)
SIX WINNERS IN A ROW FOR THE IRISH TAKES THEM 17-4 CLEAR: Irish raiders won 6-1 yesterday so that their score coming into the final day is 17-4 over the home team. It was so close to a whitewash with the sole scorer for England, Chantry House in the opener, when the odds-on Irish favourite, Envoi Allen, fell!
▪️ Top trainers: Willie Mullins 4, Henry de Bromhead 4.
▪️ Jockeys: Rachael Blackmore 5, Jack Kennedy 3.
Headlines:
🔹 TONIC FOR ENGLISH TRAINERS
🔹 JUMP IN OVER 24.0 KANGAROO
🔹 VANILLIER 23.0 BETDAQ VALUE
🔹 KING FRODON FOR THE CROWN
🔹 BOB FROM NATIONAL BREEDING
🔹 ALOHA! BIG BOOST FOR ELIMAY
🔹 GETTING OUT ON GENTLEMAN
TONIC FOR ENGLISH TRAINERS
⭕ 1.20 Cheltenham (Triumph Hurdle)
REPRISE: See Festival stats (Daqman Archive: Friday, March 12)
RATINGS: Zanahiyr 149, Quilixios 147, Tritonic 147
TRAINERS: Zanahiyr (Gordon Elliottt aka Denise Foster)
FORM: They say they’ve saved the best for last – and I don’t mean the Gold Cup. The Triumph has the clash of Zanahiyr and Tritonic, and such a pity one has to lose.
Right up to the ‘off’ on Tuesday, the Irish have been saying Zanahiyr is the best of the meeting but is he so? His hurdles hat-trick now reads like this:
▪️ Ballinrobe: second horse home beaten a total of 63 lengths in next two starts.
▪️ Fairyhouse: second horse home second again, beaten by 80-1 shot in the Fred Winter on Tuesday.
▪️ Leopardstown: second horse home 55-lengths 19th in the Fred Winter.
How does that compare with Tritonic? Well, he beat the same horse for both his wins but extended the distance between them when they met a second time in the Adonis where he looked so impressive.
That was good ground, whereas Zanahiyr’s hat-trick was all on the soft and, when unbeaten Quilixios scored at Leopardstown, he beat in one race horses that both finished second to Zanahiyr in separate races.
Strictly, pound for pound, the results make Quilixios 148, Zanahiyr 146 but with no collateral form to help us place Tritonic in among them.
As for Adagio, he has already won on this New course at Cheltenham. So it may not be a simple match race after all.
🟪 SELECTION: Tritonic (Alan King of England!) can use his speed if the going stays good.
JUMP IN OVER 24.0 KANGAROO
⭕ 1.55 Cheltenham (County Hurdle)
REPRISE: See Festival stats (Daqman Archive: Friday, March 12)
TRAINERS: Buildmeupbuttercup, Captain Kangaroo, Ciel De Neige, Ganapathi, Third Time Lucky.
FORM: Top and bottom of the market, Champagne Gold was the ‘moral’ giving weight in the Ladbrokes Hurdle at Leopardstown last month but beaten only about a length while, three times placed in Graded races, Wolf Prince is with the Flooring Porter stable of Gavin Cromwell. In between are 24 pitfalls, from which the pick may be:
Thyme White, who will like the ground, comes from the big Newbury hurdle which has been let down this week by Soaring Glory and Guard Your Dreams.
Heavily backed favourite five times in a row, Third Time Lucki, fourth in last year’s bumper, is from the stable which has won this three times in five seasons.
Five times winner Willie Mullins saddles four including Ganapathi, back to his winning trip and Paul Townend’s pick.
One among the quartet, unexposed and who will like the conditions – well backed during the week – is Captain Kangaroo.
Cayd Boy, a speed horse, is also very lightly raced, a bit high in the weights but carrying Liz Doyle’s confidence of a good run on the better ground.
Eclair De Beaufeu is more than a stone lower over hurdles than his chase mark. ‘Hidden horse’ with quiet runs under claimers, top-of-the-male-jockeys Jack Kennedy is now in the saddle.
🟪 SELECTIONS and BETDAQ VALUE: 13.0 Eclair De Beaufeu, 27.0 Captain Kangaroo, 29.0 Cayd Boy all 0% COMMISSSION ON BETDAQ.
VANILLIER 23.0 BETDAQ VALUE
⭕ 2.30 Cheltenham (Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle)
REPRISE: See Festival stats (Daqman Archive: Friday, March 12)
RATINGS: Stattler 146, Fakiera and Vanillier each 144, Torygraph 143
TRAINERS: Stattler, N’golo
FORM: Vanillier had Stattler behind when winning his maiden. Things haven’t gone right for him- or his stable – but Gavin Cromwell bounced back big time with Flooring Porter in the Stayers Hurdle.
Streets Of Doyen, getting weight of course, beat Flooring Porter in the autumn, and both Torygraph and The Cob are close to Graded horses but can they continue on the upgrade without the mud to help them?
Torygraph’s the one with the guts for this battle and with the form made solid by collateral results.
🟪 SELECTION: Torygraph (9.8)
BETDAQ VALUE: Vanillier (23.0)
KING FRODON FOR THE CROWN
⭕ 3.05 Cheltenham (Gold Cup)
REPRISE: See Festival stats (Daqman Archive: Friday, March 12)
RATINGS: Al Boum Photo 175, Native River 172, A Plus Tard, Frodon,169,
TRAINERS: Al Boum Photo, Native River, Frodon, Kemboy.
FORM: Native River won the 2018 Gold Cup but was only fourth the following year to Al Boum Photo, who took it again last March from Santini, with Kemboy seventh.
The precarious position of the hat-trick-seeking Al Boum Photo is revealed in the fitting of a visor to Santini to bridge a gap of just a neck between them.
When two horses are so close together, both aged nine, you’d normally look for a younger horse, and you’d be right in eight of the last 10 Gold Cups.
A Plus Tard is from the red-hot Henry de Bromhead yard but his Christmas win at Leopardstown upped to 3m was in a slow time considering the no-worse-than-yielding ground.
He’s won a handicap at the festival but faces a Frodon likely to spare no prisoners, now that Bryony Frost has the confidence of a King George win behind him.
I asked myself: is there another horse in this field capable of winning a King George? Certainly no other who has won at Cheltenham six times (four of them on good or good to soft).
Frodon is likely to see off Native River and Kemboy and then faces challenges from A Plus Tard, Al Boum Photo and Royal Pagaille.
Now there’s the young pretender we’ve been looking for! Tom Scudamore had the ‘ride of his life’ at Haydock on Royal Pagaille, describing him as ‘fabulous’ and ‘the world is his oyster.’
Tom will sadly get a rear view today from 275.0 outsider Black Op, as trainer Venetia Williams remains loyal to Charlie Deutsch for this topical tip (I’m told that the meaning in French is ‘royal mess’ or ‘right shambles’).
🟪 SELECTION: Frodon 18.5 0% COMMISSSION ON BETDAQ
BETDAQ VALUE: Royal Pagaille 19.0
BOB FROM NATIONAL BREEDING
⭕ 3.40 Cheltenham (Hunter-chasers’ Challenge Cup, ex-Foxhunter)
REPRISE: See Festival stats (Daqman Archive: Friday, March 12)
RATINGS: Bob And Co 146, It Came To Pass 144, Hazel Hill 143
TRAINERS: Bob And Co, Staker Wallace, Stand Up And Fight
FORM: The winner the previous year often does the double: Salsify (2012-13), On The Fringe (2015-16), Pacha Du Polder (2017-18).
Hazel Hill won this in 2019 but is 13 now and has surely missed his chance, so It Came To Pass looks poised to be next dual winner after last year’s result: 1 It Came To Pass (10 lengths), 2 Billaway, 4 Staker Wallace, 7 Law Of Gold.
You’ll need some faith, though, because that was a one-off for It Came To Pass, whereas Billaway, two years younger, has done well since and could make a race of it this time, though Staker Wallace got closer to Billaway – within two lengths – when they fought out the one-two at Naas in January.
It’s all about the extra couple of furlongs here on the tougher course, and whether It Came To Pass can bounce back.
After wind ops, Bob And Co could be the answer in a race Paul Nicholls wins; top rated though lightly raced; by Dom Alco (sire of the stable’s Grand National winner Neptune Collonges) with the dam a half-sister to a Welsh National winner, Raz de Maree.
🟪 SELECTION: Bob And Co (BETDAQ 6.0)
ALOHA! BIG BOOST FOR ELIMAY
⭕ 4.15 Cheltenham (Mares’ Chase)
REPRISE: new race
TRAINER: new race
RATINGS: Magic Of Light 156, Elimay 155, Colreevy, Shattered Love 150
FORM: Elimay was beaten three lengths at Thurles over today’s distance by Allaho, who took the Ryanair apart yesterday. She then dropped back to 2m to beat Shattered Love at Naas and is now better off at the weights.
Colreevy, who is another one (of four) for Willie Mullins, beat yesterday’s winner, Mount Ida, also at Thurles, but four seconds slower than the Allaho race.
Like Shattered Love, Grand National runner-up Magic Of Light is aged 10 now and you’d expect a younger animal to catch her out at this trip.
In fact, she was well behind Elimay in November – though that was her first run back – and all her chase form in the last two years is over around 3m. Likely to try to poach a lead so back-and-lay material at 24.0 on BETDAQ those morning.
🟪 SELECTION: Elimay (supernap)
GETTING OUT ON GENTLEMAN
⭕ 4.50 Cheltenham (Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle)
REPRISE: See Festival stats (Daqman Archive: Friday, March 12)
TRAINERS: Amour De Nuit, Dallas Des Pictons, Eglantine Du Seuil, Fabulous Saga, Frontal Assault, Gentleman De Mee, Galopin Des Champs, Volcano.
FORM: Another big chance for Gavin Cromwell, with Gabynako, placed in a Grade 1 behind a winner already this week, Bob Olinger, and now back in a handicap.
A bad race for favourites but Gentleman Du Mee could be way ahead of his handicap mark, and Martinhal looks the improver of David Pipe’s team.
🟪 SELECTIONS: Gentleman Du Mee (4.4 offers) and Gabynako (5.9)
BETDAQ VALUE: Martinhal (28.0)
DAQMAN’S BETS
1.20 Cheltenham (win 20)
BET 5pts win TRITONIC
1.55 Cheltenham (win 30)
BET 2.5pts win ECLAIR DE BEAUFEU
BET 1.25pts win CAPTAIN KANGAROO
BET 1pt win CAYD BOY
2.30 Cheltenham (win 50, win 12 place)
BET 5.5pts win TORYGRAPH
BET 2.25pts win and place VANILLIER
3.05 Cheltenham Gold Cup (win 50, win 12)
BULL’S-EYE BET 2.75pts win and place FRODON
BULL’S-EYE BET 2.75pts win and place ROYAL PAGAILLE
3.40 Cheltenham (win 30)
BET 6pts win BOB AND CO
4.15 Cheltenham (supernap)
BET 20pts win ELIMAY
4.50 Cheltenham (win 30, place win 10, two win 10s)
BULL’S-EYE BET: 1.25pts win and place MARTINHAL
BET 3pts win GENTLEMAN DU MEE
BET 2pts win GABYNAKO
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