DAQMAN WAS THE BANKER OF THE WEEK! Daqman made it two bankers out of two during the three days of Cheltenham, when Le Prezien (WON 8-11) scored yesterday, following Tara View (WON 4-5). His winners yesterday were:
WON 8-11 Le Prezien (banker nap)
WON 5-2 Fox Norton
NOW TWO DOZEN FESTIVAL COOKIES: Today Daqman looks back over the three days and picks three horses to add to his Fortune Cookies, a total now of 24 to follow, with the long-term targets Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown. See how they run and decide whether they are festival champions.
DAQMAN TODAY: DAQMAN sets his sights on the south east with three selections from Plumpton before looking north and finding one at Newcastle.
O O SEVEN! HE’S LICENSED TO THRILL
I’m taking three horses from the three days of Cheltenham. Added to my Fortune Cookies are Fox Norton, Its’afreebee and O O Seven. My negative for the meeting is the seemingly impressive winner, Moon Racer.
He’s won five out of seven and he’s very lightly raced for a seven-year-old. Correction, eight-year-old come the Cheltenham Festival!
Only one horse of that age has won the Supreme Novices Hurdle in 26 years, and only two over the age of seven have scored in half a century (since 1966).
Young horses – like Supreme five-year-old stars Douvan and Vautour in the last three years – are likely to overtake him in the run-up to the meeting and in the race itself.
FOX NORTON (Colin Tizzard): One of the features of the three days was how Colin Tizzard won first time with horses transferred to his care; Vicomte Du Noyer (from Henry De Bromhead) and then Fox Norton (from Neil Mulholland).
Fox Norton completed a hat-trick yesterday, beating a well-handicapped horse and an Irish raider gambled on to make all the running. So it was a thoroughly genuine test, and he was a determined winner with, I believe, more to come.
ITS’AFREEBEE (Dan Skelton): This one was well beaten, last of five, in the kingmaker Steel Plate and Sections Novices Chase on Friday over 20f and a bit.
He’d been impressive setting up a three from four sequence, hurdles and fences, but shows two things which take him away from Cheltenham Festival consideration. He likes to front run, and he likes the mud. I’d like to see him back at two miles, teaching them to jump around Sandown, say.
O O SEVEN (Nicky Henderson) The ‘Freebee’ race was won 10 lengths by O O Seven in impressive style, albeit he swerved on the run-in (‘he got a bit lonely,’ said his handler).
This imposing individual has won over 3m as a hurdler, yet the drop back in trip was no concern, as he comfortably tracked the pace.
It all seems to indicate that here we have a stayer but, if you pick a fight with him, he can speed up his game for a prize over much shorter.
* Daqman’s Fortune Cookies: Archive Tuesday November 8
PLUMPTON: BARON TO GET OFF THE MARK
1.35 Plumpton There was a huge amount to like about the chasing debut of Baron Alco at Cheltenham last time; he jumped well in the main and haD every chance in the straight when just probably finding the bare two miles a bit too sharp for him. He steps up in trip and down in grade today and should take all the beating. An early show of 1.71 in the orange of BETDAQ looks like a solid play.
2.40 Plumpton Earls Fort is sure to be a warm order as he bids for his hat-trick but can be taken on here. He has had 19 days break since his last run but had run three times in the space of 8 days before that and it remains to be seen if he will have fully recovered from those exertions. The one of interest instead is Skylander for David Pipe, who registered a couple of winners at the Chetenham Open meeting last weekend. Skylander has been racing over fences of late but switches to hurdles here and drops back in trip. He has previously shown good form with these conditions and it may be a case that he is not in fact an out and out stayer. He is 5.0 to back on BETDAQ as I write and he looks a bit of value
3.40 Plumpton Black Mischief made a perfectly satisfactory debut when third at Uttoxeter and will be fancied by many to get his head in front here but a chance is taken here instead with Milzipa. His trainer Nicky Henderson has had a horrid couple of days losing Simonsig and retiring Sprinter Sacre and this could give the yard a small boost. This gelding is a half-brother to An Cathair Mor who was a Grade 1 chaser and a winner of a bumper on debut and has the potential to be smart. At 6.0 on BETDAQ this morning he looks worth a chance.
BRINGING DUBAI ELEGANCE TO THE NORTH-EAST
3.00 Newcastle Dubai Elegance still showed some signs of inexperience when breaking her maiden at Chelmsford last time and could prove to be ahead of her mark of 81 in her first handicap. She is drawn nicely and the step up in trip should be a help. In a race that looks relatively weak she rates as a confident selection.
DAQMAN’S SELECTIONS
BANKER: Bet 10pts win (nap) BARON ALCO (Plumpton 1.35)
BET 5pts win SKYLANDER (PLUMPTON 2.40)
BET 8pts win DUBAI ELEGANCE (Newcastle 3.00)
BET 3pts win MILZIPA (Plumpton 3.40)
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
