DAQMAN 40 POINTS UP ON PRICEWISE: Second and third! So frustrating. Daqman’s two place bets in the Thyestes yesterday (Bonny Kate and Ucello Conti, taken at 11.0 and 9.8 on BETDAQ) have him 40 points clear of his arch rival, Pricewise of the Racing Post, but – give the Post man a chance to deliver! – we’ll count just one to the returns score, so it’s Daqman 11, Pricewise 4.
TODAY: At Taunton, there’s one ‘backed like a banker.’ At Doncaster ‘every single runner behind this one was a winner.’ Those are among Daqman’s bets today.
TOMORROW: Don’t miss his race-by-race guide to Cheltenham. SUNDAY: Another big trials meeting at Leopardstown.
17 FORTUNE COOKIE WINS
It’s a huge weekend. And the weakest of my Fortune Cookies face the axe if there are hot spots at Cheltenham (tomorrow) and Leopardstown (on Sunday). Here’s the list as we go into a big trials weekend. It’s been worth it with 17 successes so far.
-1F Asthuria Fell when in command at Thurles.
-11 Bellshill Back-to-back wins.
-11 Douvan Also two from two.
–1 Fox Norton Won the Cheltenham Chase in November
01F Frodon Usually an excellent jumper. Is having a holiday.
-12 Good Thyne Tara Also watch Samcro, who beat her on the last day.
-13 It’s AFreebee Improver.
-14 Jenkins Given another chance.
P30 More Of That A different horse at Cheltenham.
-03 One Track Mind Top hurdler still with something to prove over fences.
111 Thistlecrack We’ve followed him to glory. On to Gold!
–F The Young Master The Sandown Gold Cup winner will be back.
211 Vroum Vroum Mag Back to form and ready for top honours.
-11 Yorkhill Well placed to win; needs to improve.
HARRI COULD MAKE ALL
1.25 and 4.25 Doncaster Nicky Henderson has a 42% record with hurdlers at Doncaster and his current form wherever he goes is 50% from 10 hurdles starters in the last fortnight.
Minstrel Royal (1.25), in his first open handicap today, is a chaser in the making, who is made for endurance, as a son of Kayf Tara out of a Bustino mare.
Wenyerreadyfreddie (4.25) also steps up in trip, as befits a Beneficial out of an Old Vic mare. Down the dam’s line in his pedigree is the tough chaser, Bradbury Star
I could get 11.5 Minstrel Royal on BETDAQ this morning but Wenyerreadyfreddie was already hammered (in to 2.68), leapfrogging the paper favourite, Brio Conti.
1.55 Doncaster Ballybogey apart, those of double-figure age in this haven’t won since 2013-14, and he’s won only once, and that over a shorter trip.
Fort Worth and Henllan Harri are often thereabouts but very hard to win with, though Harri was the ‘moral’ on ground too soft for him at Plumpton, beaten less than two lengths giving 11lb to the winner.
He might have too much know-how at this stage for the novice Behind The Wire, who usually gets worked up before his races and may boil over.
I expect Henllan Harri (a 4.4 offer) to try to make all, so you may be able to trade out if you’re watching the race.
3.55 Doncaster Best race of the day over jumps now that Huntingdon is off, with three of the top yards represented.
The Coral Cup winner Aux Ptits Soins (Paul Nicholls), a 152 over hurdles, needs a stone improvement over fences to reach those heights. He’s started well enough.
But every single runner in the Taunton race won by Kerrow (Alan King) just before the turn of the year was a previous winner.
The placed horses strung out behind Premier Bond (Nicky Henderson) at Catterick were also previous winners, and he’s from the family of a Grand National winner.
It doesn’t look as cut and dried as the favourite’s odds on might suggest, with Kerrow’s chase form looking superior and his 7.0 offer tasty.
DOLOS DROPPED IN GRADE
1.15 and 1.45 Taunton Paul Nicholls (High Secret in the first division; Garo De Juilley in the second) ) has won this with Triumph and Neptune candidates.
Against High Secret, David Pipe puts first-time hood on Guineas fifth (to Gleneagles) Celestial Path, who was overfaced in the Tolworth first time over hurdles. Didn’t like the hot company; didn’t like the soft ground. Could do better here.
2.45 Taunton Another race Nicholls has used to launch a potential star. In 2010 it produced the first winning hurdles performance of future ace chaser, Al Ferof.
And the Nicholls runner here, Dolos, will be much more at home over a longer trip in today’s company after third in a Grade 1 at Auteuil and then beaten for speed again by tomorrow’s star Triumph trialist, Defi Du Seuil.
He’s rated clear of Alan King’s dual winner, The Unit but, as a four-year-old, gets 16lb. Also giving weight a lump of weight is Air Horse One, who had to be ridden out to beat a modest field of maidens at Exeter.
Dolos was being backed like a banker early mouse so I stepped in at a shade of odds against.
4.15 Taunton A tasty ending to the day, with £12,660 to the winner, but a tough one for punters.
The prolific Dream Bolt only just held on at Chepstow but the runner-up franked the form at a higher level at Haydock.
Clic Work didn’t beat much at Doncaster but impressed his rider and is another Nicholls novice likely to go places, though still a few pounds behind the form of Mad Jack Mytton’s second to O O Seven on the last day.
Sew On target has twice won in a higher class but is giving seven years to Clic Work and 10lb to Dream Bolt! It could be close between those two but Dream Bolt is too big at 5.9.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BACK 2pts win and place MINSTREL ROYAL (1.24 Doncaster)
BACK 6pts win HENLLAN HARRI (1.55 Doncaster)
BANKER: 10pts win (nap) DOLOS (2.45 Taunton)
BACK 4pts win KERROW (3.55 Doncaster)
BACK 4pts win DREAM BOLT and 2pts win (stakes saver) CLIC WORK (4.15 Taunton)
BACK 8pts win WENYERREADYFREDDIE (4.25 Doncaster)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 5 x 2pts win doubles and 2 x 1pt win trebles Dolos (2.45 Taunton) and Wenyerereadyfreddie (4.25 Doncaster) with both Dream Bolt and Clic Work (4.15 Taunton)
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