DAQMAN’S BIG 14.0 VALUE FROM GALLOPER: After a big handicap strike for 50 points profit at Sandown on Saturday, Daqman found fabulous BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE value at Musselburgh yesterday with a huge 14.0 about The Big Galloper (SP 17-2)
Sunday: 14.0 BETDAQ value
WON 17-2 THE BIG GALLOPER (from BETDAQ 14.0)
WON 4-9 GALOPIN DES CHAMPS (Daq multiples)
WON 1-5 HONEYSUCKLE (Daq multiples)
Saturday: 50-point strike
WON 6-1 GREEN BOOK (Bull’s-eye bet to win 50 points)
WON 8-13 L’HOMME PRESSE (Fortune Cookie)
DAQMAN’S WEEKEND WRAP: After six straight losing favourites on the opening day of the Dublin Festival, there were six straight winning favourites on Day 2 yesterday, including a hall-of-fame romp by Honeysuckle in the Irish Champion Hurdle. Daqman’s wrap on the results (today) is followed by his revised Fortune Cookies (tomorrow).
BLUE! LORD WAS HE FAST..
She’s a mare in a million. Financially not quite; her earnings are now £927,832 after winning the Irish Champion Hurdle yesterday.
But her 14 straight wins, 10 at Grade-1 level, make Honeysuckle the Enable of hurdling and, just as with Enable, we followed her in Fortune Cookies for most of her career.
Then it became silly. She wasn’t going to be a price or lose her momentum because there has been nothing to get even close to her.
It’s not as if she jumps well or has star presence like Enable. Honeysuckle wins because she wants to. Such is her ability, she has now shrugged off her shortcomings – and all opposition – for nearly four years.
⏲️ Fastest races Blue Lord was by far the fastest winner on Day 1 of the Dublin Festival, but he seemed to have run the finish out of himself in the Irish Arkle (led and drifted two out).
He then had to battle with the mare Riviere D’Etel and hung on only half a length with Jack Kennedy on the runner-up complaining that he had met with interference which cost him the race.
It reminded me how Paul Townend had claimed interference ‘all the way down the straight’ on odds-on Vauban when beaten half a length by Pied Piper in December.
Vauban – in first time tongue-tie – made up for it by herself turning over the short-priced favourite, Fil Dor, on Saturday and I will now have to think about Fil Dor’s Fortune Cookies place.
Sir Gerhard won the Novice Hurdle in a fast time yesterday but, Supreme or Ballymore, he joins Cheltenham power pools which will need sorting in between and on the day, not in advance of those races.
🏅 Best performances Another Fortune Cookie, L’Homme Presse, continued his climb to the top with a scintillating victory in the Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown.
🤔 Lays Logic I can’t have Conflated for Cheltenham, even though he beat the Gold Cup holder, Minella Indo, because for me the runner-up ran the best trial for March.
No one was expecting Conflated to win the Irish Gold Cup and I shall put it down to ‘one of those things’ that he got away from them (in slow time), although Imperial Call did the double of Golds in 1996.
I shall also say welcome back Chacun Pour Soi.. and goodbye. He returned to form on home turf in the Dublin Chase but has been beaten on two occasions travelling to England, odds-on failure in both the Champion Chase last year and the Tingle Creek in December.
BONNE CHANCE
⭕ 12.30 Carlisle Git Maker will need to complete his hat-trick in style if Cheltenham dreams are to be entertained – he has an entry for the Ballymore. I’m lacklustre about backing him at cramped odds today and happy to ‘let him win’ at current odds-on prices.
There’s more than one way to play a race on BETDAQ and I can back Bonne Vitesse for a place at bigger odds than I can play Git Maker for the win.
Micky Hammond’s runner made a stunning debut at Wetherby – winning by 17 lengths on the same soft ground as today. The filly was nibbled at in the market but still allowed to go off at 16/1. In one start she showed vastly more than she showed on the level and gets all the weight concessions here.
I’ll play her to WIN 10 on the place with 1.2pt win (to win another 10) on the win market – it would be rude not to.
MORE FOR MOORE
⭕ 1.15 Fontwell “When he was good he was very, very good …..” that certainly applies to the enigmatic Goshen who got things back in style at Sandown on Saturday – climbing the hill for an eventual 15 length win. With a winner on the flat at Lingfield yesterday, the Gary Moore stable have now won with their last three runners and are running at a 25% strike rate over the last 14 days – an impressive 6-24.
So no problems on the trainer front for Kotmask who bids for a hat-trick here following wins at Fontwell (12 lengths) and Huntingdon (head). That makes it quite hard for the handicapper who has little form to go on and there is every chance the four-year-old can improve significantly against runners with more miles on the clock.
His starting mark of 119 doesn’t look too onerous and he is taken to see off the challenge of the 121 rated Franco d’Aunou who might need more help in the weights than the 1lb drop he has received here after a satisfactory handicap debut in November but has been off the course since.
Off the track for longer is Mongol Emperor (328 days) – he should be suited by the step up in trip but the morning drift on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE is more of a concern than the length of absence.
FOX STILL HAS THE POWER
⭕ 7.00 Wolverhampton Five runners for the class 3 feature at Dunstall Park.
I’m not convinced the race is as one-sided as the morning market suggests. Obviously Hafeet Alain has a solid chance but he has yet to win on the AW and was a beaten favourite last time out and is now UP 3lb !!
Fox Power comes back fresh for a new yard. If anything near his best the morning 4.4 looks a gift. Don’t forget he was an AW Listed winner in 2019.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 10 points)
BET 1.2pt win and 7.7pts place BONNE VITESSE (12.30 Carlisle)
BET 8.9pts win (nap) KOTMASK (1.15 Fontwell)
BET 2.9pts win FOX POWER (7.00 Wolverhampton)
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.
