DAQMAN ARC TRIUMPH NEVER IN ANY DOUBT: Enable, Enable, Enable, Enable! ABC guide, private ratings, Fortune Cookies and verdict on the day. Four times in this column Daqman said Enable for the Arc. It was her second coming, his nap both times and, ahead of the game as usual, your man forecast before the race that she will try for the hat-trick next year. And Enable gave him a hat-trick of naps just this week!
WON evens ENABLE (supernap)
WON 4-9 BRUNDTLAND (supernap, 2.32 BETDAQ)
WON 6-4 TABDEED (nap)
AT LEAST ONE WIN A DAY FOR TWO WEEKS: The Enable victory among three returns yesterday also meant that Daqman had 25 in two weeks, so that the current overall view of his tipping is now:
Three naps in a row
25 returns (at least one a day for 14 days)
A 76-23 lead over Pricewise in big races
249 points ahead (Daqman +113, Pricewise -136)
18.5 OFFER IS ON A RETRIEVAL MISSION: After Daqman’s Arc wrap, he finds horses at Windsor Pontefract and Kempton who are on retrieval missions, two of them meriting strong bets: 18.5, 5.1 and 3.4 offers on BETDAQ.
FAYE AND THE FATE OF ARC CLASS
Class will out. You can’t come without the horse. Two old racing adages brought into sharp focus over the Arc weekend at Longchamp in two identical rides.
James Doyle, forced wide in the rear by a gate-15 draw in the Arc, failed by a short-neck to catch Enable.
Frankie Dettori had pressed the button on Enable just as Doyle had to switch in his run. Both fillies, of the highest class, responded in fantastic fashion and will be hard to separate again, given a better preparation for Enable and a second year’s racing for Sea Of Class.
Hearing from a nervous trainer, John Gosden, how Enable had missed more vital work after her Kempton return, the Racing Post has demoted yesterday’s race by fully half-a-stone on her 2017 triumph.
Yet Cloth Of Stars was placed in both, and yesterday’s winning time was the only one faster than average in the whole two days at Longchamp.
Frankie Dettori is an amazing cocktail that only oldies like me can see in the mix: he’s the cunning of Lester Piggott and the cheek of Charlie Smirke, with more than a dash of Mick Kinane cool.
But the contrast in ‘identical rides’ I want to draw is between James Doyle’s on Sea Of Class and Mickael Barzalona on Morgan Le Faye, when third in Saturday’s Prix Du Cadran (French Gold Cup).
Morgan and Mickael had ‘stayed on strongly, too much to do’ after ‘settling towards the rear’ in the Prix Gladiateur a month back over just short of 2m on the Longchamp track.
But here they were ‘behind’ over the extreme 2m 4f of the Cadran, treating the finish like a sprint, ‘smooth headway two out; really caught the eye.’
In a six-seconds-slow-run marathon, with the experience of the Gladiateur to work from, Mickael could surely have brought Morgan to the fore.
But you can’t come without the horse, and she has only ever won her maiden (always a bad sign), so did our eyes deceive us? Or could there have been a different result?
The winners of Gladiateur and Cadran, Called To The Bar and Call The Wind, both four-year-olds, suggest that 2018 will be a great year for long-distance events in Europe.
As for next season’s Arc, could I ever desert Enable after seven bets in this column on seven consecutive Group-1 wins..?
FOLLOW BELL JUVENILE EMPIRE
1.55 and 2.25 Windsor The endless show goes on. The same players are back from Longchamp, and are winding around Windsor.
In the 1.55 first division, James Doyle, who rode Politicise on the Camelot colt’s debut, missed the winning ride when he made all at Newbury.
John Gosden, who has a 43% record on the course this season, saddles Damon Runyon, whose Sandown second was boosted by an easy winner since for the fourth horse.
God Has Given would normally go for a nursery after this third run but that’s a climbdown from his Derby entry, and his being by Nathaniel suggests a leap forward as he learns.
Michael Bell’s Emirates Empire, who also has the Derby entry, and Shoot For Gold were the ones for the money with the bookies this morning, both getting 7lb from the penalised Politicise.
Seven of Bell’s 11 runners in October have been two-year-olds and three of them have won including Master Brewer on the opening day at Longchamp. That’s a real confidence booster. I took 12.5 Emirates Empire.
Fenjal (2.25 second division) is big at 18.5 for James Doyle and Hugo Palmer, who won this race last year. The money was down (14-1>6-1) on Fenjal at Beverley but something went wrong.
RETRIEVAL MISSION COMPLETION
3.10 Pontefract I was on M C Muldoon in a useful field at Haydock nine days ago but he ran lack lustre, and Peter Chapple-Hyam seems to be out of form.
Roger Varian (Jamil) has a modest strike rate right now, nowhere worse than Pontefract (1-22), and I prefer Completion (BETDAQ 3.4 taken), who was aimed high at Royal Ascot and Goodwood.
Interesting that he’s back to the track where he was not disgraced trying to give lumps of weight to Knighted (a winner since). Out of a Pivotal mare, so could enjoy the soft ground.
6.45 Kempton Quarry Beach (BETDAQ 5.1) was an eyecatcher here at Kempton on the debut and is returned to the London track with a tasty draw after fluffing her lines on turf at Goodwood. Strong vibes from my man in the long grass.
DAQMAN’S BETS
1.55 Windsor (win 20)
BET 1.75pts win and place EMIRATES EMPIRE
2.25 Windsor (win 20)
BET 1pt win and place FENJAL
3.10 Pontefract (win 30)
BET 10pts win (nap) COMPLETION
6.45 Kempton (win 30)
BET 7.55pts win QUARRY BEACH
DAQ MULTIPLES: 2pts win double COMPLETION (3.10 Pontefract) and QUARRY BEACH (6.45 Kempton)
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