ECONOMICS CHAMPION DOUBLE PLAN: Daqman supernapped Economics (WON 11-10) on his return in a Group 2 at Deauville yesterday and William Haggas’s three-year-old will now attempt a British and Irish Champion Stakes double.
HARDLY THE CLASS TO LEARN RACING: University results are known this week but England’s young racegoers have to put up with class-4 racing at best at the height of the summer holidays. There is very little quality today at Epsom (class 4, 5, 6), Newbury (mainly class 4, one Listed), Newmarket July (class 4 and 5, one class 2), Thirsk (five class 4, one class 5, on class 6), Wolverhampton (four class 5, two class 6).
NEWBURY NURSERY SCHOOL
RACING’S planners seem to have tidy minds (no, I didn’t say ‘tiny minds’; I keep that epithet for politicians). ‘Tidy’ because their thinking seems to be: Aintree, ah yes, Grand National. Epsom? It’s where we run our Derby, isn’t it?
Yet Aintree has one of the finest grass tracks in the world and Epsom the toughest and quirkiest, still the cradle of the great thoroughbreds.
Neither is ever properly used; like some ancient amphitheatres waiting for gladiators once or twice a year then, thumbs down, closed against the plebs.
What can would-be racegoers and punters expect today? Juvenile tests which are basically non-betting races and class-4 races and lower (anybody’s guess which of these hopefuls is having his day).
Single-figure fields mean it’s anybody’s guess whether there will be any pace on. If there is, it’s a question of whether the front-runner(s) can get away from the field.
⭕ 2.05 Newbury A 6f Class-4 Nursery handicap. Daqman’s best guesses: this stiffer course will be better for Rare Change, who was staying on at Goodwood.
Shout’s flop (hung badly) at Salisbury yesterday was not a good sign for Meeghat and Priapos, who finished behind him at Salisbury.
Miss El Fundi went clear at Kempton. Fred On Fire is dropping back to his winning trip.
⭕ 3.45 Newbury A 5f Listed for 2yo fillies, with just one winning favourite since 2016. River Seine and the grey Violet Love (6) should take the low numbers along.
But 3.0 offer Adrestia (out of 12) and Englemere (8), one-two in a Sandown nursery, have the best recent form and Kaadi the best overall form.
Lady Of Andros (Ryan Moore) represents the top French yard of Andre Fabre and will get a line to the Cheveley Park through Adrestia. Betdaq Betting Exchange 8.8
THE DAY NEEDS MAGIC
⭕ 4.35 Epsom Let’s hope the day planned for Monday, August 26, is a bit more exciting. It is named Family Race Day at Epsom Downs.
That means you can expect games for children, which is just about the level of these summer-holiday meetings.
Local trainer Jim Boyle clings to his fine Epsom history: 32 winners on the course for £378k prizemoney. He is only 0-17 this season.
But no secret that he intended to land a September class-4 hat-trick on the Downs with Marlay Park. If it was a secret, it isn’t now (sorry Jim).
I say ‘intended’; if the six-year-old says he’s ready he could score here earlier – like now – as he’s also done. Best have a pound on.
Another CD winner in the race is Land Of Magic, trained an hour south of Epsom on the Portsmouth line. The three-year-old is 3.95 on BETDAQ, getting a stone from Marlay Park (4.7).
MILLION-GUINEAS POET
⭕ 5.45 Newmarket July The greatest one-two ever in a maiden. In 2010 Frankel (Sir Henry Cecil, Tom Queally), unbeaten 10-time Group-1 winner, beat King George and Eclipse winner Nathaniel (John Gosden, William Buick) in the first race for both of them.
All we can judge today’s runners on is breeding and sales value. Arabian Poet (Charlie Appleby), half-brother to Group-1 winners, was sold for a million guineas as a yearling. That’s why he is little better than evens this morning.
Scandinavia is bred in the modern purple (Justify-Galileo) but his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, has flopped in England this week with defeats for both The Parthenon and Butterfly Wings.
⭕ 6.50 Newmarket July A class-2 handicap! We’ve been waiting all day but are we on for Waiting All Night?
The horse of that name did well to finish second over this CD last week and goes up 2lb in future official ratings.
Once rated 100, fifth in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, but his overall turf record is only 1-18
I have been waiting for Classic to drop back to his winning distance (here and at Sandown) but he stays at 1m after an unlucky day at Goodwood when hampered and not clear run in the Golden Mile.
Darkness and Dutch Decoy both come down from Yorkshire. Both have done the trick before but both are older horses high in the handicap.
Star Of Orion was a once-a-year horse for Ralph Beckett and could find something for new trainer Eve Johnson Houghton after being hampered (yes, another Goodwood victim) but has to give weight all round.
Great Blasket won four out of five in the Spring but a rise to class 2 and an overall rise of 18lb kept him out of the frame at Sandown and Ascot.
DAQMAN’S BETS
2.05 Newbury (win 10)
BET 4pts win RARE CHANGE
BET 2.75pts win MISS EL FUNDI
3.45 Newbury (win 20)
BET 2.5pts win LADY OF ANDROS
BET 5pts to win 10 ADRESTIA
4.35 Epsom (win 15)
BET 5pts win LAND OF MAGIC
BET 4pts win MARLAY PARK
5.45 Newmarket (win 10, nap)
BET 10pts win ARABIAN POET
6.50 Newmarket (win 10)
BET 4pts win CLASSIC
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Start with a bank and decide how much you can afford to lose over a period of time, and determine the size of your bets accordingly. Daqman makes this variation every day.
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