HELTER-SKELTER OPENING DAY AT DEL MAR: Starting today, sample the swings and roundabouts of betting at the Del Mar Fairgrounds where it’s a muggy 15 degrees (humidity 78%) beside the blue-Pacific coast of California. Get aboard the helter-skelter with this word of warning from Daqman: ‘It’s a one-mile oval, so think Chester, and fast trappers from a low draw.’ Dirt going: Fast. Turf: Firm.
DOWN ROYAL SUPERNAP IS A FUTURE STAR: First stop is the jumping at home, but in England the Wetherby card has crashed, with small fields, despite soft ground. However Down Royal races near Lisburn in County Down hold promise of future stars, one of them Daqman’s supernap of the day. He also picks a nap in the paradise of Del Mar, hint hint.
MELON HAS THAT CHAMPION LOOK
12.40 Down Royal Trainers are creatures of habit and Gordon Elliott has form figures in the last five years of 1-411 for horses breaking their hurdles maiden in this one. Impressive Point and bumper winner Poli Roi will be short.
1.15 Down Royal The Mullins-Walsh combo is three in a row in this, all hot favourites, and Mystic Theatre looks like another for your Daq Multiples after four hurdles wins in a row, the last two by a total of 26 lengths.
1.50 Down Royal Some top-class hurdlers win this, not least Champion Hurdler, Jezki (2013), and Supreme Novices runner-up Melon is seen as en route to that while, from his breeding, Mick Jazz looks more a World Hurdle candidate.
But Melon’s stablemate, Coquin Mans, is not out of it. He made most at Tipperary in the Istabraq (Grade 3) Hurdle on the first day of October. The winner? Jezki.
3.00 Down Royal This beginners’ chase has produced an RSA hero, Bostons Angel (2010) and a Leopardstown Chase scorer, A Toi Phil (2016), from winners aged five and six years old only in the last eight seasons.
Moulin A Vent is related to Bostons Angel down the dam’s line and, with Noel Meade’s stable in such excellent form, could account for the Gordon Elliott pair, Tombstone and Midnight Escape.
4.05 Newmarket There’s a hidden horse here. Swiss Storm was considered of such high promise that he had David Elsworth saying: ‘we can dream.’
The dream was shattered with injury in the Dante Derby trial but the son of Frankel did well enough last time out in a bog at Epsom to suggest that he is back on song.
SEPTEMBER WILL LOVE THE GROUND
9.25 Del Mar (Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf) Aidan O’Brien is front rank on the grid for our first Grade 1 of the three-day Breeders’ Cup, which has 34 European contenders.
Gleneagles sister Happily is well drawn and the American-bred (her dam was Giants Causeway’s sister) has taken top prizes for her age in Europe, the Moyglare and the Grand Criterium.
The worry for Happily is the firm ground, which will suit her stablemate September, only third in the Moyglare (soft-heavy) but Chesham scorer at Royal Ascot when it was fast.
The ‘little filly with the massive engine’ (quote unquote O’Brien) is coming out of gate 10 but, like Rushing Fall in 11, won her best start from off the pace. September was 5.9 on BETDAQ this morning.
John Gosden’s Juliet Capulet has shown top form with cut in the ground and a mile will stretch her stamina off a wide draw (gate 13).
10.05 Del Mar (Breeders Cup Dirt Mile) Star of the race Mor Spirit has struggled to regain his form on the gallops after a break, but slammed Sharp Azteca six lengths at Belmont in June.
If the favourite cannot find Mor, then Iron Fist might spring a surprise: 25.0 in the BETDAQ orange as I write for the Steven Asmussen barn which has saved one up for a big hit before in this (the 20-1 Tapizar in 2012).
10.50 Del Mar (Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf) The Anglo-Irish contingent have scored six times since 2008, with Aidan O’Brien’s current form figures:112-12.
His American-bred Mendelssohn failed to stay the Dewhurst trip (7f) as well as US Navy Flag, is up another furlong here and, as a tall colt, is not guaranteed to enjoy the turning track, particularly from a no-hiding-place one draw.
The Godolphin hope, Masar, is still filling his frame and has to improve on defeat by both O’Brien fillies here today, Happily and September, at Royal Ascot and Chantilly.
Beckford, placed in the Phoenix and the National Stakes, could improve for the step up in trip and this sharp track: BETDAQ 11.5 this morning.
He and James Garfield should be ok with a tight mile but those behind Garfield in the Mill Reef were only Group 3 winners.
11.35 Del Mar (Breeders Cup Distaff, Dirt fillies and mares) Richard Mandella has a strong team for the meeting. His filly Paradise Woods has shone in her prep work and is in the form of her life: 6.0 in the BETDAQ orange.
DAQMAN’S BETS (each staked to win 20 points)
SUPERNAP: 20pts win MELON (1.50 Down Royal)
BET 9pts win SAMETEGAL (2.35 Wetherby)
BET 10pts win MOULIN A VENT (3.00 Down Royal)
BET 5pts win SWISS STORM (4.05 Newmarket)
BET 4pts win SEPTEMBER (9.25 Del Mar)
BET 8pts win MOR SPIRIT and 1pt win and place IRON FIST (10.05 Del Mar)
BET 2pts win and place BECKFORD (10.50 Del Mar)
BET 4pts win (USA nap) PARADISE WOODS (11.35 Del Mar)
DAQ MULTIPLES: BET 4pts win double Poli Roi (12.40 Down Royal) and Mystic Theatre (1.15 Down Royal)
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
