THE NAME’S BOND: DAQMAN TIP SHOOTS INTO ARC RECKONING: Deep Bond (WON 17-2) was cut from 50-1 generally to 22.0 on BETDAQ for the Arc de Triomphe after doing exactly as he was told by Daqman yesterday! Quote: ‘I fancy the Japanese stayer Deep Bond to make his mark for the Arc with a front-running ride under Cristian Demuro’. Deep Bond made all in the Prix Foy trial at Longchamp.
NAPS HAT–TRICK SEQUENCE INTACT AFTER A BALLET MIX-UP: Despite the going return of ‘good’ in each case, all races were slow on the clock at both Longchamp and The Curragh. Daqman’s nap, Bolshoi Ballet, was robbed of a run in Paris when withdrawn after a vaccination technicality. So Daqman goes into today still looking for a fourth to add to his naps hat-trick.
WON 5-6 ST MARK’S BASILICA (BETDAQ 2.0)
WON 4-11 STRADIVARIUS supernap
WON 15-8 FREE WIND (BETDAQ 3.4)
O’BRIEN JUST ONE WIN OUT OF 40
It’s no fall from grace! Though beaten by Teona in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp yesterday, Snowfall was caught out by a slow pace and the Arc trial turned into a sprint.
She was still 6.4 on BETDAQ ante-post for the Arc de Triomphe last night, with Roger Varian’s Teona 32.0. But it was another day of woe for Aidan O’Brien.
With his last 40 starters, only one O’Brien runner has won: St Mark’s Basilica in the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday.
The stable has been missing strike badly with placed sequences without winning like these: 2232 and 202034022. EIGHT favourites out of NINE have been beaten.
Snowfall was held up a long way back at 5-1 on and could never get to the winner, who was transformed from a filly of unruly behaviour to goody two-shoes, though still running freely, and was pushed out to extend off La Joconde’s modest pace.
O’Brien, who trains both the vanquished Snowfall and the not-so-fast-pace maker La Joconde, saw three consecutive Ballydoyle favourites crash yesterday. His Longchamp and Curragh flops were timed like this:
⏰ 1.33 BOLSHOI BALLET (withdrawn) The Longchamp Stewards quibbled that his vaccination certificate showed he had his flu-jab three days late.
⏰ 2.20 LOVE (2nd 6-5 favourite) Led two out in the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh but short-headed in the final stride, as Paddy Twomey’s La Petite Coco continues her rise, potentially to the top.
⏰ 2.55 SNOWFALL (2nd 1-5 favourite) Back at Longchamp, Snowfall is not at her best and is unsuited by the way the race was run.
⏰ 3.30 BROOME (2nd 23-10) Second, and could make no impression on the runaway Japanese winner, Deep Bond, in the Prix Foy.
⏰ 4.05 POINT LONSDALE (2nd 8-13 favourite) Literally outpointed in the National Stakes by Charlie Appleby’s Native Trail.
THAKRAH HARD TO OPPOSE
⭕ 6.45 Kempton The afternoon fare looks tricky on the flat at Thirsk and Brighton and impossible at Worcester so I’m sticking to the Kempton card.
Thakrah looks the nap on the card in the fillies event over seven furlongs. Her trainer Charlie Hills can do little wrong at present (7 winners from last 35) and Thakrah looks certain to build on her promising Newmarket debut last month where she finished fourth to the impressive Silk Romance.
She looked booked for second that day, only tying up in the closing stages and this looks the ideal opportunity for her to open her account after which we’ll know whether her entry in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket next month is realistic.
There may be dangers lurking with the debutants but if the market is to be a guide there were certainly no clues on the early BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE markets and the 2.4 about the NAP at 11am looks very tempting indeed.
DIVINE INTERVENTION
⭕ 7.15 Kempton The best race of the night is this class 3 which has only attracted a six-strong field but the fillies are hard to separate in a tightly banded handicap.
Beheld heads the early market but has proved to be a layer’s dream so far – the Roger Charlton trained runner has gone off favourite in all four off her races since making a winning debut at Newbury but has suffered defeat each time including over course and distance in June. She’s been a dropped a pound by the handicapper but probably needs more help and doesn’t make much appeal.
Preference is for Divine Magic who switches back to the all-weather, where she showed ability in her first three starts, after a productive spell on the turf including last time out at Sandown where she came from well off the pace but ended up winning going away.
Her trainer Marco Botti has scored with four from his last 15 runners and she can add to that tally here.
FOREST BUT ALSO CHECK 3.05 THIRSK
⭕ 8.15 Kempton ‘Roulette’ appears in the race title for the closer over a mile and half and there is an element of spin the wheel and see where the ball lands for this handicap.
However, there is also a chance that Urban Forest could be one of the better handicapped horses in the field. Trained by Ed de Giles he comes into this on the back of a couple of decent efforts at Ffos Las including last time where he chased home the odds on favourite Hesperis.
Whilst dangerous to read that form too literally, Hesperis looks quite useful and runs again today in the earlier 3.05 at Thirsk. A good run there would obviously increase my confidence.
The rest of the field mainly consists of workaday handicappers including Saulire Star who keeps falling in the weights and is now at a level where she is entitled to go well but she does thrown in the odd horror run too.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 10 points)
BET 7.1pts win (nap) THAKRAH (6.45 Kempton)
BET 2.7pts win DIVINE MAGIC (7.15 Kempton)
BET 2.4pts win URBAN FOREST (8.15 Kempton)
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.
