BALLET CLASS AS DAQMAN DELIVERS FIVE WEEKEND WINNERS: Bolshoi Ballet waltzed clear in his Derby trial yesterday and Daqman followed suit, completing a fabulous weekend by galloping 18-8 in front of arch rival Pricewise with a Leopardstown-trials double and three winners in all from five races, taking his weekend total earnings to 61.65 to recommended stakes.
Sunday: profit on the day 21.90
WON 11-4 JOAN OF ARC (from 7.4 on BETDAQ)
WON 5-4 ZUBA
WON evens BOLSHOI BALLET (nap)
Saturday: profit on the day 39.75
WON 11-1 RIVER NYMPH (Victoria Cup from 14.5 on BETDAQ)
WON 9-4 LOUGANINI
SEE HOW THEY WON: EPSOM DERBY (2): Daqman completes his Epsom Derby preview, with just one major trial left, the Dante at York on Thursday, which last threw up an Epsom hero in 2015 with Golden Horn and may now see High Definition in action. Tomorrow he checks out the Oaks trial results, matching them with CVs of the winners of the last 10 years. Again, just York this week remains, with the Musidora Stakes on Wednesday.
DAQMAN’S TOP SIX DERBY COLTS
Has Bolshoi Ballet danced right to the top? His success in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown yesterday follows a big gap in the status of the race.
Apart from Fame And Glory (Irish Derby, 2009), there had been nothing else of note for 15 years to follow the trial’s fantastic winning run with Sinndar (2000), Galileo (2001), High Chaparral (2002), Yeats (2004) and Dylan Thomas (2006).
But Bolshoi Ballet stepped up to the bar yesterday, with a scintillating six-lengths success to follow his Ballysax strike, giving him double provenance for Epsom.
Bolshoi Ballet (Aidan O’Brien) hasn’t put a foot wrong in his Derby preps, always dominating at Leopardstown yesterday.
The last Ballysax winner to score at Epsom was Harzand (2016) ,who completed a Derby double at Epsom and the Curragh.
High Definition (Aidan O’Brien) Beresford Stakes winner due to run in the Dante at York on Thursday.
Previous winners of the Beresford have included Sea The Stars (2009 Derby) and Capri (2017 Irish Derby).
Third Realm (Roger Varian) followed in the hoofprints of Anthony Van Dyck (2019 Derby) by taking the Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday from the giant Adayar.
Adayar does not do a lot for the form, having split Alenquer (previously well behind Fancy Man) and Yibir (well-beaten Dee Stakes favourite) in the Sandown Classic Trial.
Master Of The Seas (Charlie Appleby) was second for Godolphin in the 2,000 Guineas after winning the Craven Stakes.
A similar path was taken by Godolphin’s Derby star, Masar (2018), who was third in the Guineas after also prepping with Craven Stakes success.
Australia (2014) had also been third in the 2,000 Guineas. Camelot (2012) landed the Guineas and Derby double.
Youth Spirit (Andrew Balding) won the Chester Vase, as Derby winners Ruler Of The World (2013) and Sir Dragonet (2019) had done.
Sandhurst (Aidan O’Brien) was runner-up to Youth Spirit at Chester in the hoofprints of Wings Of Eagles, who was also Aidan O’Brien and also runner-up in the Vase before scoring at Epsom.
BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE 2.75 Bolshoi Ballet, 8.0 High Definition, 10.0 Third Realm, 39.0 Youth Spirit, 80 Sandhurst (Master Of The Seas more likely to run in St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot).
FLAMMARION LOOKS RED HOT
⭕ 2.50 Catterick The soft ground looks to have arrived at the perfect time for the David O’Meara trained Flammarion.
There are no stamina doubts for the five-year-old who won a bumper at Ayr on debut on heavy ground but he seems equally as effective on a quicker surface too and comes into this with the best form having finished a close third at Thirsk last time out beaten just half a length.
Off the same mark and in a similar (if not slightly worse) contest he should prove hard to beat and continue the ‘steady away’ strike-rate of the stable who have had 10 winners from their last 58 runners.
Seventeen O Four remains a maiden but has put in some promising efforts on the all-weather. Probably best watched here on his turf debut and although he was third over this trip at Southwell last time out he was beaten 10 lengths in the process having faded in the closing stages.
The ground may have gone against Act Of Magic whose two turf wins have come on good and good to firm ground and a bigger danger may come from Idilico who gets his ground but needs a huge leap of faith to back judged by his recent efforts.
KIRRANE MEANS BUSINESS
⭕ 5.00 Catterick There will be no O’Meara follow-up here as he has taken out King Of Tonga who was not without a chance.
It looks wide open on BETDAQ in his absence but I am drawn to Business with the experienced Sean Kirrane in the saddle against, in the main, a set of very inexperienced pilots.
Kirrane comes into this with ‘form figures’ of 122 – his latest effort was a creditable second to Hiroshima at Ascot on Saturday so he shouldn’t be phased by a run of the mill Catterick apprentice event on a Monday!
Business surely has plenty more to give – he’s been placed twice from four starts on the all-weather and although disappointing at Beverley when last seen the hope has to be that this ground will suit him much better. His sire Siyouni handled ‘very soft’ in France for which read ‘bottomless’ in any other jurisdiction!
THE SECRET’S OUT
⭕ 8.00 Windsor Hopefully the lucky last as far as Secret Shadow goes.
The Andrew Balding trained filly went into my notebook when an unlucky third at Kempton last time out but seemed to be much improved for the step-up in trip which she gets again tonight.
The top two on the card have to be respected given they are both chasing a hat-trick but Lady Pendragon and Beauty Stone are both up in the weights and in the case of Beauty Stone her two wins have been by slender margins.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 10 points):
BET 4.6pts win (nap) FLAMMARION (2.50 Catterick)
BET 1.8pts win BUSINESS (5.00 Catterick)
BET 3.2pts win SECRET SHADOW (8.00 Windsor)
What are points? Points facilitate a staking plan, which is the secret to creating profit. One point is whatever you choose: a pound, a euro, or whatever ….
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.
