OAKS WINNER AND FOUR NAPS IN A ROW: The flags were out for Daqman yet again yesterday when he tipped Blue Bunting (WON 5-2) for the Irish Oaks and landed his fourth consecutive nap with Short Takes (WON 15-8).

34 POINTS PROFIT ON THE DAY: He also had Blue Bunting and Short Takes in his doubles and trebles to give him a total profit of 34 points on the day to recommended stakes.

108 POINTS UP FROM 10 BEST BETS: In the last 12 days, his seven winning naps backed to 10pt level stakes would have produced a profit of 108.25.

Here are the last six:

* Tuesday: MOJOLIKA (WON 7-4)
* Wednesday: Hel’s Angel (2nd 5-4)
* Thursday: HUNTER’S LIGHT (WON 2-1)
* Friday: VITAL GOLD (WON 2-1)
* Saturday: HEAVENLY DAWN (WON 6-5)
* Sunday: SHORT TAKES (WON 15-8)

I’m fishing for a nap. Seaside tracks in this English summer are as hazardous as Royal St George’s but somehow I have to miss the bunkers and find a banker at Ayr or Yarmouth.

At least we have a class 4 at each meeting, whereas Beverley is down in the doldrums of class 5 and 6, in which winners are hard to predict. Windsor tonight would be a last resort (pun intended). Let’s see how we go.

Ayr: My winning run has come largely from conditions races and maidens, so I should think about the opener before six tricky handicaps find me out. They are particularly tricky because all are qualifiers.

In that opener, Joshua The First (2.30) looks a typical bridesmaid, with his sequence of six times in the frame, four of them seconds, and Rasputin, a neck behind him on his first run recently, should benefit from the experience and reverse the form.

But, knowing Joshua’s penchant for getting ‘beat’, it’s form that doesn’t amount to much. Sygnature and Altnaharra have had to be gelded already, and Eraada is bred for further next season.

I chose Fresa, with Sir Mark Prescott in top gear now (six winners from the last 14 starters) but she’s 15.0 this morning, which suggests a lack of stable confidence. Rain would change all that for the daughter of Selkirk, so I’ll take a position in the race with a pound each way.

Yarmouth: Sir Mark saddles three at Newmarket-by-the-Sea: Artistic Thread (2.15) is having a third run to get a handicap mark but, if it came up soft, the daughter of Barathea would be in her element.

Iceni Girl is getting that bridesmaid profile and, if I had a gun to my head, I would pick Equity Card, appealing on pedigree and from a first-time stable. But that doesn’t warrant a nap, and she too is at big offers (8.4) despite the defection of three of the declared.

There are plenty more non–runners, which suggests they’ve had more than a drizzle this morning: so let’s look at those handicaps with soft-ground horses in mind.

Though Set Me Free (3.15) will be favourite after his six-lengths Redcar win on firm, the soft-ground colt here is Switchback, first time in a handicap today and with Cheveley Park Stud keen to get a win out of him. Mediceans don’t mind plenty of cut and his dam is by soft-ground sire, Pivotal.

I got 5.1 with six left in, representing true odds of 5-1. Ryan Moore, on 73, is trailing Paul Hanagan (88 winners) and Silvestre De Sousa (81) but, with two wins at Newbury, and one over in Ireland, at the weekend has come back from 15 straight losers.

Moore rides a dual soft-ground winner, Outland (4.45), but those successes mean he’s giving weight all round here, and you always worry about improving three-year-olds in a race like this.

James Fanshawe won the auction maiden last year and Flaming Nora (4.15) is by a sire, Tobougg, whose progeny do well enough on the soft, but there are three Tobouggs in the race.

Beverley: Hanagan and De Sousa clash here on another card of tricky handicaps at another meeting where rain was expected. The exposed form in a race in which the runners have a chance to settle into a rhythm is the 8 o’clock, in which Salient appeals despite his steadier of 10st.

Raised only a few pounds for this hat-trick bid, has scored this high in the handicap four times in the past and is actually down in grade from his make-all class-4 win at Epsom.

Windsor: Regal Salute is interesting now handicapping (8.40), but Pegasus Again is fancied as a CD winner, and there’s just no telling what rain the course will get. Pass.
 
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 2.7pts win and place EQUITY CARD (2.15 Yarmouth)
BET 1.4pts win and place FRESA (2.30 Ayr)
BET 5pts win (nap) SWITCHBACK (3.15 Yarmouth)
BET 6.6pts win SALIENT (8.00 Beverley)