BETDAQ VALUE FOR A FLYING START AT 14.0, 12.0 AND 10.5: Roll up, roll up: see the flying jockeys! It’s a day of days at Kempton Park as Mickael Barzalona and Frankie Dettori take on two champions, Paul Hanagan and Ryan Moore. Jackpot-king Daqman grabs value Betdaq offers at 14.0, 12.0 and 10.5.
DOUBLE WHAMMY MAKES IT SIX LAYS IN A ROW: When racing left off on Thursday, Daqman won twice in one race when he opposed Cotton Trader (unplaced 3-1 jt favourite) to land his sixth lay in a row and backed Estedaama (WON 3-1).
Airborne Frankie Dettori and Mickael Barzalona show a notable difference in flight patterns. At least Frankie waits until the winner’s enclosure before he leaps out of the saddle. Mickael does it even before the winning post.
No Steward has yet dared to make his name by challenging the rodeo riders, and so far the pair show skill and judgment with that touch of the devil; it’s reminiscent of cheeky Charlie Smirke or the young authority-riling Lester Piggott but never two together before that I can remember or hear tell of, and certainly not in the same colours.
Frankie, who continued his World Cup reign in Dubai, is over 40 now, and at his back, on the same Godolphin team-sheet, are the 10 years younger Silvestre De Sousa and the flambuoyant Barzalona, half Frankie’s age and the ultimate show stealer at Meydan when he took the grand finale, the Dubai World Cup, on Monterosso. Standing up in the saddle, of course.
Dettori, Barzalona and De Sousa, all three, meet head on with the current English champion jockey, Paul Hanagan, and former champion Ryan Moore, in the 3.45 Kempton Park today.
It is to be hoped that the Godolphin three help bring back the crowds by attracting more young people to racing.
2.05 Kempton Frankie’s mount, Double Dealer, tried to raise his game from class 4 to class 3 in the autumn and continued to place without winning; now he’s up again to class 2.
Fantasy Gladiator is another consistent but frustrating horse raised in class and racing off his highest mark. Of the pair, Double Dealer, at age four, has more scope for improvement.
Andrew Balding’s horses usually need a run but Highland Knight (10.5 on BETDAQ) is capable of winning this and has gone well fresh. He’s in the one stall.
Cocozza was one of the talking horses of the Lincoln but failed to run his race and, though he’s an American-bred, drawn low, is now virtually ignored at 14.0 on BETDAQ as I write. I like a horse that ‘s ignored: his price is good.
2.40 Kempton Raasekha and Hayaku are front-runners who could be quickly brushing aside by Group-placed Law Of The Range, who then has to deal with a trio of hold-up horses.
Night Lily was runner-up last year but the younger mares Sooraah, who won a Meydan handicap but is looking a bit exposed, and the grey Captivator, who gets further, are the likely benefactors of a hot pace.
Fallon is an interesting booking for Captivator, who was the ‘wrong’ price at 12.0 on BETDAQ this morning; his form after an absence is 211.
3.15 Kempton (Queens Prize) Activate has won first time back for the last two seasons; so has Hawk Mountain, and he’s been hurdling, too.
But there are relatively unexposed horses in this that ‘could be anything’: Mark Johnston’s Gulf Of Naples (five runs) and John Gosden’s Thimaar (seven) are both are entered in the Yorkshire Cup, suggesting they have all to play for this season.
3.30 Haydock As well as the star riders’ treat at Kempton, we have Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty over from Ireland, with Geraghty as certain as you can bet to ride at least one winner from Owen Glendower (3.30), Fourth Estate (4.05) and Picture Post (5.15), but note that Tony McCoy is at Newton Abbot, as Cardinal Rose (5.20) is blinkered first time.
3.45 Kempton: Here it is, the jockey special! And it could turn out to be a Classic pointer, as Barzalona, Dettori, Hanagan, De Sousa and Moore line up entries in the 1,000 Guineas and Oaks.
But who’s favourite this morning? David Probert on Bana Wu. Well, I did warn you that the word on the grapevine is to follow Andrew Balding’s second-season animals.
DAQMAN’S BETS
WIN-30 JACKPOT: 3.1pts win HIGHLAND KNIGHT and 2.3pts win COCOZZA with 1.5pts win (stakes saver) DOUBLE DEALER (2.05 Kempton)
BET: 1.8pts win and place CAPTIVATOR (2.40 Kempton)
WIN-30 JACKPOT: 7pts win THIMAAR and 5.7pts win GULF OF NAPLES (3.15 Kempton)
BET 4pts win (nap) CARDINAL ROSE (5.20 Newton Abbot)
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