FIVE–STAR DAQMAN MAKES ‘MINCE’ MEAT OF HIS RIVALS: Priceless Daqman left the other value-seeking tipsters standing still yesterday with five fantastic winners on Shergar Cup afternoon, including two out of three for his horses to follow, and a finale fling with Mince.
6-1 WINNER HIKES SATURDAY PROFIT TO 89 POINTS: Mince (WON 6-1) took his day’s profit to 88.90 points. Here’s how he picked the winners, race by race:
WON 3-1: BOOM AND BUST: One of his horses to follow, his only bet in the race. ‘Draw against him last time.. the ground has come right.’
WON 5-2: GOSPEL CHOIR: ‘Could come on dramatically.. The Stoute dogs are barking!’
WON 2-1: SUN CENTRAL: ‘The Haggas gang thought he was a cert’ when Gospel Choir beat him last time.. ‘already red hot on BETDAQ.’
WON 3-1: HIGHLAND COLORI: Another from his horses-to-follow list published last month. Badly drawn last time and the ground had come right.
WON 6-1: MINCE: ‘Only Mince has won in this grade. Appeals at 7.4 on BETDAQ.’
Wot no Frankel? He’s giving away £285,000! A championship Group-1 race takes place at Deauville today. It’s over a mile and it’s the most competitive of the season. Because NO Frankel.
And, because no Frankel, it’s also remarkable as the first challenge of the season by top three-year-olds to older horses at the mile, and the first of its kind with an odds-against favourite for nearly a year.
But the £285,000-to-the-winner Prix Jacques Le Marois will still give us some idea of Frankel’s true status on the mile scene because Excelebration, who’s run second to him four times, is the chosen one for today’s contest by The Chosen One from Ballydoyle, Aidan O’Brien.
When running without Frankel, who has beaten him five times in all, Excelebration’s form figures are 111111 since his debut in May 2010, and he holds last year’s winner of today’s race, Immortal Verse, on their second and third to Frankel in October’s Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes.
2.40 Deauville (Prix Jacques Le Marois): Three-year-olds are 7-4 up on older horses since the turn of the century; stalls 5-to-8 have won in the last four years.
France has taken the last five renewals, including two for Freddy Head, trainer of Moonlight Cloud, and one each for Andre Fabre (Golden Lilac) and Robert Collet, who again saddles Immortal Verse.
Only one English-born trainer is on the Jacques Le Marois roll of honour (Clive Brittain) since Freddy, as the jockey, landed back-to-back wins on the mighty Miesque (1987-8).
But Team GB is out in force with four runners going for Group-1 gold, including a twin attack from John Gosden (Elusive Kate and Fallen For You).
Moonlight Cloud has swerved mile races in her last seven outings, since a beaten favourite in the 2011 Newmarket 1,000 Guineas.
She may find the English rival with the mostest is Most Improved, who had to miss the Guineas but beat Hermival, third to Camelot in the Newmarket Classic, when they met at Royal Ascot.
Gabrial, the only second-season animal to meet Frankel on a racecourse – nine or so lengths behind him in the Sussex Stakes – was around four lengths adrift of Most Improved and Hermival in the Ascot race, the St James’s Palace Stakes.
After slamming Champion Stakes winner, Cirrus Des Aigles, in the Prix d’Ispahan, Golden Lilac would have been hot for today’s race, had she not in turn been put in her place by Elusive Kate over today’s CD at the end of last month.
Yet William Buick seemingly prefers Fallen For You, winner of the Coronation Stakes from Starscope, who was subsequently beaten in a Listed at Sandown. Don’t make sense.
Of course, we don’t know what improvement Fall For You has made at home since June; fillies can suddenly hit a mental and physical surge (or go in season!). But, at the BETDAQ offers as I write, Most Improved is massive at 9.2, representing Guineas form.
2.50 The Curragh (Royal Whip): Another clash of the generations with Born To Sea, fourth behind Most Improved at Ascot but runner-up to Camelot in the Irish Derby, seemingly finding his right trip here at 1m 2f.
He is taking on Famous Name, 18 times a winner, but never above Group 3 (he’s won 11 of those), and set to give away 9lb.
Ballydoyle’s Warwick Avenue could be the surprise packet, a front-runner going for a hat-trick at the trip. He’s 20lb behind the best of these but, with only four runners, he could get a soft lead.
I can’t seriously invest on a colt that’s never won beyond 6f (Born To Sea) or one that’s past his prime (Famous Name), so small stakes Warwick Avenue at 23.0 the win on BETDAQ and 5.4 the place, as I write.
3.20 The Curragh (Debutante Stakes): Another odds-on favourite. Harasiya has already taken care of My Special J’s and Roseraie, so seems to have only Ballydoyle to beat.
Their contender, Magical Dream, has in turn dismissed Diamond Sky. Unfortunately, there is no collateral form; all we know is that Nurpur, second to Harasiya at Leopardstown in June has been well beaten twice since and that Reglisse, four and five lengths behind Harasiya, also in races at Leopardstown, has finished well back at Tipperary and was only fourth in a Group 3.
Harasiya will probably win but I can’t make that uninspiring form the basis of a mortgage job at odds on. I’ll have my pound on Magical Dream (at 5.9 on BETDAQ at the time of writing)
LEICESTER: Back to the battle of the generations, and Cape Explorer (3.45) runs for Team Tate, which is top of two stable lists: James Tate is hottest trainer of the moment and his is the leading yard at Leicester.
Cape Explorer, Tate’s only runner there today, is a tasty 3.9, with the only one beneath a bar of 7.4, Night And Dance off a whacking 10st.
FOLKESTONE: Maybe the older horse will get the better of it at Folkestone where, in the 1m 4f handicap, both three-year-olds, Romantic and Kaylene, have already failed to place in handicaps.
Peachez won twice over this trip last summer, steps back up to it now, and has the Richard Hughes drive, as he continues to post his determination to win the jockeys’ marathon, the season-long battle for top of the table. Come on, ‘Mo’ Hughes, don’t let ‘em pass you!
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 2.4pts win MOST IMPROVED (2.40 Deauville)
BET 0.9pts win and 2.1pts place WARWICK AVENUE (2.50 The Curragh)
BET 4pts win MAGICAL DREAM (3.20 The Curragh)
BET 6.8pts win (nap) CAPE EXPLORER (3.45 Leicester)
BET 6.6pts win PEACHEZ (4.30 Folkestone)
* Daqman’s selections are backed to win 20 points for the win so, if you divide 20 by his stake, you know the Betdaq offer taken at the time of writing. Points are what you make them: if your unit stake is £5, then 5pts win is £25.
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