DAQMAN GETS THE STORIES AND THE WINNERS: It’s an action-packed Daqman day, featuring Cheltenham, the Kentucky Derby and the Guineas! Here’s how we work that one out in the stories which follow:
FESTIVAL STARS DOUBLE BLOW Reveals doubtful runners for Cheltenham
BALLYDOYLE BACK AT THE FRONT Three go on the Road To the Kentucky Derby
DEPUTISE LOOKING A BIT DARK Two bets this afternoon before a Dundalk nap
FESTIVAL STARS DOUBLE BLOW
⚠️ EPATANTE DOUBT: Though blood tests are showing normal, Champion Hurdle favourite Epatante has been coughing ‘a few times over the last couple of days’, according to trainer Nicky Henderson last night.
He stressed that the possible infection was isolated to the J P McManus owned mare at Seven Barrows, with no other horse involved.
Epatante was thought to make McManus pretty much of a certainty for the title of champion British Jumps owner for 2019-20, with total earnings of £1,353,515, some £627,000 clear of his nearest rival.
The owner has won the £253,215-to-the-winner Champion Hurdle eight times with five different trainers: Istabraq (1998, 1999, 2000) with Aidan O’Brien; Binocular (2010) with Nicky Henderson; Jezki (2014; Jessica Harrington); then Buveur d’Air (2017 and 2018) with Henderson again before completing a hat-trick last year through Espoir d’Allen, guided by Gavin Cromwell.
Benie Des Dieux (3.5) had this morning moved ahead of Epatante (out to 4.3) in the BETDAQ Sportsbook market for Tuesday’s championship.
⚠️ CHAMPAGNE OUT: For the second year running, Gordon Elliottt’s Champagne Classic has had a setback on the brink of Cheltenham and is forced to miss the NH Chase again, also on Tuesday.
Elliottt had described the 2017 Martin Pipe winner as ‘tailor-made for the race,’ and he should know: in the last five years he has trained Cause Of Causes (2015) and Tiger Roll (2017) to win the race and establish themselves as star Grand National material.
Champagne Classic will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury, and BETDAQ Sportsbook now has Willie Mullins’ Carefully Selected 3.0 favourite, with Copperhead for Colin Tizzard on 5.0..
BALLYDOYLE BACK AT THE FRONT
He’s ready to start! I’m hoping the famous phrase of Aidan O’Brien’s (just before one of his wins 10 lengths!) applies to Ballydoyle’s opening shot, United Front, at Dundalk tonight.
You never thought that on this day you’d be checking out the form of Pinatubo, the Guineas favourite, ahead of sunshine days at Newmarket and the Curragh, away from all this rain and storm!
It’s a nice thought and one that will be in the mind of Aidan O’Brien as he lines up a quartet for one of his favourite meetings, his first runners ahead of a new season.
6.30 Dundalk United Front was high in the two-year-olds pecking order last Spring but fluffed his lines, though odds-on favourite, when beaten by stablemate Royal Lytham, who would go on to win the Group-2 July Stakes at Newmarket.
United Front himself ended up in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, 50-1, and a long way behind an impressive Pinatubo.
O’Brien would throw Armory (National Stakes) and then Arizona (Dewhurst) at Pinatubo, and come off second best in both.
Ballydoyle won this Dundalk maiden last year at long odds-on, and I’m guessing that United Front will be ‘expected’ tonight: I took 2.75 in the BETDAQ Sportsbook.
7.00 Dundalk O’Brien is back all right . He’s the same old king of the jungle, setting snares for punters with THREE runners in one of his winningmost races at this time of year.
He’s won or gone close every time with form figures of 1112 in this one-mile Listed, which was created as part of the Road To The Kentucky Derby series. And they were useful winners at that: Washington DC, War Secretary and Mendelssohn last year.
Today’s O’Brien trio, King Of Athens, New World Tapestry and Battle Of Liege, were headed in the BETDAQ Sportsbook market by Joseph O’Brien’s Crossfirehurricane.
Joseph does particularly well at Dundalk but today’s trade-paper headline (‘Red-hot Joseph O’Brien team set for further Dundalk success’) was hardly appropriate with Joseph’s Clonmel winner yesterday ending a poor run of 2-39.
DEPUTISE LOOKING A BIT DARK
4.00 Lingfield Deputise, who goes well after a break, only just failed to win a £93,000 pot at the AW Championships last Good Friday.
That was class 2 over today’s CD after he’d won his qualifier at Wolverhampton. Gelded since and moved from William Haggas to Michael Wigham, who is currently in form with a 33% strike rate (3-9).
Merhoob, at eight, double the age of Deputise, has scored twice over the Lingfield CD and Adam Kirby has won on him four times in his 57-race career.
Total Commitment will need just that, given a pound to haul back a length on Merhoob, after their second and third 13 days ago.
There’s collateral form: Total Commitment gets 2lb with which to turn around his length-and-a-quarter defeat by Fizzy Feet (pun intended) in January, also over today’s CD.
It puts three of them ‘all of a heap’ now and, when this happens, the rule is to find something else to beat them. Deputise? I took 7.4 on the BETDAQ exchange.
4.55 Newbury Billingsley has loved the heavy ground, climbing out of novice company and up a grade to score at today’s level at Haydock.
The handicapper has him 12lb higher now but he must have had something left at the finish at Haydock because he gave the last plenty of daylight.
Richard Johnson returned with a winner yesterday, and the ratings say that another dual scorer, Dorking Cock, has been lifted 15lb.
He’s ‘beat nothing well’ in novice company but has form figures of 11211 in the last year, if you delete experimental longer trips.
Amoola Gold has done quite a bit of handicap chasing at today’s level, and might have won the Hallowe’en Trophy here at Newbury but didn’t have much room in the closing stages.
However, the narrowly beaten third, giving weight to the front pair, is a stablemate of Dorking Cock and the implication is that Johnson’s mount will have an edge from collateral form here. He also has youth on his side. There was 5.0 available when I checked the BETDAQ Exchange orange.
DAQMAN’S BETS
4.00 Lingfield (win 10)
BET 1.6pts win DEPUTISE
4.55 Newbury (win 20)
BET 5pts win DORKING COCK
6.30 Dundalk (win 20)
BET 11.5pts win (nap) UNITED FRONT
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