DAQMAN STRIKES GOLD AT 16-1: Saturday-king Daqman was a short-head away from having all three Cup winners at Ayr yesterday, the Bronze, Silver and the Gold, which he took with Captain Ramius (WON 16-1).
101-1 BIG–RACE DOUBLE UP: He had six horses in the frame and his yankee doubled Captain Ramius with Jack Dexter (WON 5-1) in the opening Bronze. The Ayr Cups day went like this:
Bronze: WON 5-1 (sole bet Jack Dexter, ‘pay for later bets’ )
Silver: SECOND 6-1 (Highland Colori, horses to follow, beaten short-head), THIRD 8-1 (An Saighdiur), FOURTH 14-1 Spinatrix
Gold: WON 16-1 (Captain Ramius, ‘I could almost nap him’), FOURTH 16-1 (Sholaan).
Gowran Park Only the best fillies, such as Snow Fairy, are reliable; most of them have their off days. But Caponata is making a good stab at consistency, despite ‘ladies problems’.
She was reported ‘coming into season’ before her short-head defeat by Up in the Blandford Stakes.
I remember one of my own fillies coming into season when we fancied her for a big race. She smashed the box down on the racecourse that morning, and pulled up in the race. Talk about being ‘a bit too fresh.’
In this Blandford, the form is straightforward enough: Caponata has twice beaten Shebella and Soon, and Soon, in turn, has beaten Ala Speranza and Devotion.
It all looks so obvious and three-year-olds usually win this race but the snag is different ground. Most of the ‘summer’ – we now call it the monsoon period – the form races in question have been run on soft-heavy, good to soft at best. Today drying winds should give us good going.
For that reason, I also need a pound on Beatrice Aurore, second in a Group 1 last season and from a yard that hasn’t fired this year until recently. Sure enough, she came back to form with a narrow Group-2 defeat last time.
I shall take Galway plate winner Blazing Tempo (3.15) to maintain his advantage over Definite Class despite a turnaround in the weights on their meeting 16 days ago.
Since then Blazing Tempo’s stable has had 20 horses in the frame and is currently looking for its fourth winner from seven starters.
The Curragh yard of Dessie Hughes, on the other hand, hasn’t had a winner from 31 runners in the last 43 days. Definite Class could be the turning point but you wouldn’t want to bet on it.
Dessie’s form looks hot alongside the Gowran record of Eoin Griffin, who hasn’t scored on the track from 40 runners in nearly seven years.
Yet his Norther Bay was paper favourite for the Gowran Park Hurdle (2.45). I was too late for a lay, even for a place, as it drifted like a dog on a raft, not a single bark for it, out to 13.0 as I write.
That was in the wake of sustained support for Red Cert in to 5.8. No cert, but bang in form and likes the sounder surface today.
Hamilton: Back to mud in Scotland, which is much loved by Catwalk (4.20), an improving three-year-old raider from Newmarket.
I shall also be on Spinatrix, a cracking 5.5 if she turns out after running so well for me in the Silver Cup yesterday. She won’t mind the quick return if she’s eaten up: the filly has won races back to back only three days apart.
Jumps: Plumpton and Uttoxeter both have good-to-firm going flagged up for their meetings but both have rain forecast, ‘Plumptious’ in some quantity.
I’ll take Uttoxeter to keep its ground, which brings me back to the beginning: to an Irish trainer, this one hunting a sound surface in England.
Cerveza Dinero is an impressive improver and they’ve put the money down this morning. Paper forecast 8-1, he was 3.95 favourite on BETDAQ by the time the toast was done and I’d checked out my losing lottery ticket. It’s that sort of ‘well, someone’s got to win’ day at the races today.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 4.1pts win RED CERT (2.45 Gowran Park)
BET 9.3pts win BLAZING TEMPO (3.15 Gowran Park)
BET 11pts win CAPONATA and 5pts win BEATRICE AURORE (3.45 Gowran Park)
BET 5pts win (nap) CERVEZA DINERO (4.10 Uttoxeter)
BET 7.6pts win CATWALK and 4.4pts win SPINATRIX (4.20 Hamilton)
STAKING PLAN: Daqman’s bets are backed to win 20 points. So, if you want to know the BETDAQ offer he took, divide 20 by his stake.
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.
