FOUR WINNING LAYS IN A ROW: Daqman landed his fourth consecutive winning lay when he put his hex sign on Leitir Mor (2nd evens favourite) at Dundalk yesterday.
CLINGING ON TO 77 POINTS: Sound Hearts (WON 5-1) was enough to just about keep him afloat so, winning a few decimal points on Saturday, losing a few yesterday, we shall call them both breakeven, and he is now unbeaten in four days racing with profit of 77 points.
IRISH CHAMPION STAKES: Today Daqman sizes up the Irish Champion Stakes, due to be run at Leopardstown on Saturday, with the weather forecast for drying ground. Here’s his stats key to each horse:
A: RATING: Seven out of 10 were rated 121-127.
B: FORM: All winners in the last decade had already won a Group 1 (10-10)
C: AGE: Three-year-olds are on a hat-trick and have a 75% strike rate (6-8).
It’s going good for Saturday’s Irish Champion Stakes. That’s as regards runners and the ground: a good field is likely, and good ground is probable at last, after months of slogging through the mud. The top three on my stats list have all won on a sound surface.
AB Nathaniel Lightly raced, with only nine starts on his CV, including last year’s King George and this season’s Eclipse. Nathaniel races off 126, a rating higher than eight winners of this in the last decade but short of So You Think (127) and Sea The Stars (133).
Nathaniel remained on 126, despite running the Arc winner Danedream (128) to a nose in his bid for back-to-back King Georges: it was an epic duel, with St Nicholas Abbey third.
AB St Nicholas Abbey The 2011 Coronation Cup winner was four lengths off Nathaniel in that year’s King George and six lengths off Danedream in the Arc.
After a repeat in the Coronation Cup, the form was confirmed with both Danedream and Nathaniel when ‘St Nick’ was only third behind them in the 2012 King George. Official rating 124.
AB Snow Fairy Since she’s had only one start this year, and with Frankel now targeting the Ascot Champion Stakes, Snow Fairy is a likely runner here.
The Epsom and Irish Oaks winner is a true world champion mare after winning Group/Grade 1 races in Hong Kong, France and Japan but was rated only 121, having finished five lengths down on Danedream in the Arc.
That figure will probably remain the same, despite a tremendous comeback after nearly nine months’ absence – superb handling by Ed Dunlop and his team – to beat Pretty Polly heroine Izzi Top and 2011 Vermeille winner Galikova in the Group-1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville.
BC Imperial Monarch The one-two from a four-runner Sandown Classic Trial – Imperial Monarch beating Thought Worthy – didn’t look much until Imperial Monarch won the Grand Prix de Paris and Thought Worthy the Great Voltigeur.
Imperial Monarch was four lengths off the winner of the French Derby and currently rates only 116 but has had just four races in his life and, given an easy surface on Saturday, is not out of it.
BC Parish Hall Not seen since winning the Dewhurst from subsequent Irish Guineas winner Power and the Royal Ascot St James’s Palace hero, Most Improved (unlucky to miss the Newmarket Guineas with a minor injury). A lot to do on his comeback.
B Twice Over Unable to live up to victory from a depleted field for the International at York last season. That was his only Group-1 hit since his heyday when he won the 2010 Champion Stakes (run at Newmarket). Three lengths third to Nathaniel in the Eclipse.
C Born To Sea Sea The Stars half-brother has fallen just short of top class, fifth in the Irish 2,000 and second to Camelot in the Irish Derby but yet to win anything more than a Listed race (on his debut).
C Princess Highway Her season was one of marked improvement, slamming subsequent Nassau winner The Fugue six lengths in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot.
Though the Ribblesdale is only Group 2, the Nassau collateral would have made her a Group-1 filly in disguise had she not failed to cope with Lancashire Oaks winner, Great Heavens, in the Irish Oaks. The excuse was soft ground.
– Famous Name Delete his failure at Group-1 level and his form figures since the start of 2010 are 11111114131111 but, for this championship race, you have to insert the top-level flops of 003232, though ‘flops’ is hardly the word, since he’s given a good account several times, placed behind So You Think. Just not quite good enough for Group 1.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 5.4pts win GIVE WAY NELSON (3.00 Wolverhampton)
BET 2.5pts win (nap) AJEEB (3.30 Wolverhampton)
BET 1.8pts win and place SURREAL, and 2.7pts win (stakes saver) RUBAN (4.00 Wolverhampton)
BET 5pts win HAVIN’ A GOOD TIME AND 2.3pts win (stakes saver) MY METEOR (4.20 Ffos Las)
* Daqman’s bets are staked to win 20 points, so divide 20 by his stake to arrive at the offer taken at the time of making the selection.
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