TRAINERS’ TITLE-RACE YANKEE: It’s the final day of the trainers-title battle between Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins, and they seem sure to share a hatful of winners. But which horses will win and take it to the wire? Daqman tries a trainers’ title yankee.
8-1 STOUTE STAR FOR DAQMAN: While Sir Michael Stoute was turning his Derby dream into reality in the trial he won with Midterm yesterday, Daqman was just as delighted with the 40 points he scooped from the same stable’s Stargazer (WON 8-1). Midterm put Daqman level with Pricewise on the day, so that the scores are now Daqman 12, Pricewise 5.
NEXT WEEK: THE PUNCHESTOWN FESTIVAL: Stay with the winning team next week for the Punchestown Festival and no doubt more of the same from Willie Mullins’ stars. Plus something very special from BETDAQ.
TITLE-RACE YANKEE FROM 29 RUNNERS
You couldn’t write the script. A climax to the season with two modern jumps-race giants head to head.
Right down to the wire, only £50,000 or so between them, the champion trainers of England and Ireland duel for £485,000 with 29 horses given 42 chances of prizemoney for the first six home in seven races at Sandown Park this afternoon.
Will Paul Nicholls have the bullets? Does Willie Mullins have the vroum vroum? It’s a magic meeting for the English title which could go to an Irish yard for the first time since Vincent O’Brien bagged it in 1954. Quare times are here again!
£2,275,659 WILLIE MULLINS (10 runners, 2.1 Betdaq) Voix Du Reve (2.20 Sandown); Ballycasey, Valseur Lido (2.55 Sandown); Un De Sceaux (3.35 Sandown); Sir Des Champs, Measureofmydreams (4.10 Sandown); Vroum Vroum Mag (4.35 Sandown); McKinley, Bellow Morne, Burgas (5.55 Sandown).
£2,329,252 PAUL NICHOLLS (19 runners, 1.63 Betdaq) Tommy Silver (2.20 Sandown); Rocky Creek, Wonderful Charm, Saphir Du Rheu (2.55 Sandown); Dodging Bullets, Ulck Du Lin, Solar Impulse (3.35 Sandown); Southfield Theatre, Just A Par (4.10 Sandown); Ptit Zig, Silsol, San Benedeto (4.45 Sandown; Some Buckle, Calipto, As De Mee (5.20 Sandown); Alcala, Qualando, Chartbreaker, Red Hanrahan (5.55 Sandown)
CHAMPIONSHIP YANKEE: The fat lady sings around 6 p.m. Let’s try to make the layers dance before then with four for a yankee from the two great teams: Voix Du Reve (2.20 Sandown), Valseur Lido (2.55 Sandown), Southfield Theatre (4.10 Sandown), Vroum Vroum Mag (4.45 Sandown)
DAQMAN’S TITLE VERDICT:
Race 1 Mullins £31,280, Nicholls £9,240. The gap closes.
Race 2 Mullins £28,475, Nicholls £9,355. Only £12,000 in it.
Race 3 Mullins £26,712, Nicholls £18,400. Neck and neck.
Race 4 Nicholls £31,800, Mullins nil. Nicholls goes on again.
Race 5 Mullins £28,475, Nicholls £9,355. Mullins comes back at him.
Race 6 Nicholls £8,316, Mullins nil. Mullins drops the baton
Race 7 Mullins £24,312, Nicholls £4,851. Final surge not enough
Sandown score Mullins £139,254, Nicholls £91,317
FINAL TOTAL: Nicholls £2,420,569, Mullins £2,414,913
MULLINS REV’S UP WITH AN EARLY DOUBLE
2.20 Sandown Voix Du Reve would have won the Fred Winter at Cheltenham but for one too many Ruby Walsh final-flight falls. Tommy Silver, Duke Street, Wolf Of Windlesham and Ashoka look next in that order.
It’s the order-in that matters so much in today’s title race, with prizemoney for six places. My verdict would give Mullins £31,280 and Nicholls £9,240 in the opener.
2.55 Sandown Menorah goes for a hat-trick in this race, but at 11-years-old now faces three attackers from Nicholls and two from Mullins, which are also likely to squeeze out Third Intention, who has never yet scored beyond 2m 4f, though third to Menorah a year ago.
This was Wonderful Charm’s distance before he was aimed at the Grand National after a great run at Cheltenham in December. First-time blinkered now to sharpen him up for the drop back in trip.
His stablemates, the disappointing pair, Saphir Du Rheu and Rocky Creek, are unlikely to trouble Valseur Lido.
Valseur Lido unseated at the last (under, or rather not under, Ruby Walsh) in his Cheltenham prep in February but was beaten six lengths by Vautour at Cheltenham. Not many could get that close.
A one-two Valseur Lido and Menorah would give £28,475 to Mullins and leave Nicholls with the crumbs, possibly £9,355.
SPRINTER LEAVES THEM STANDING LEVEL
3.35 Sandown (Celebration Chase) There has only ever been one winner of this aged 10 but the race has never seen an equine renaissance man such as Sprinter Sacre, restored to Champion Chase glory three years on by beating Un De Sceaux at Cheltenham last month.
Sprinter Sacre had warned that his star was back in the ascendancy when he stopped dual winner of this Celebration, Sire De Grugy, at Kempton over Christmas.
Sire De Grugy had enjoyed the temporary demise of Sprinter Sacre when he took the Cheltenham championship before losing a shoot-out with Dodging Bullets in 2015. Now all three champions line up to repel Un De Sceaux.
One reason for Un De Sceaux’s defeat by Sprinter Sacre was that he was unable to set his own pace, and Paul Nicholls will want his lesser lights, Solar Impulse snd Ulck Du Lin, to take the sting out of Un De Sceaux and the old boys Sire Grugy and Sprinter Sacre.
After hold-ups in his preparation, Dodging Bullets was having only his second run of the season when he was well beaten behind Sprinter Sacre last month and the shape of the race could give him considerable help, as the stayer of the party.
I see Sprinter Sacre beating Un De Sceaux again but with Dodging Bullets staying on for third. That would give Mullins £26,712, and Nicholls £13,375 plus £5,025 for fifth and sixth.
THE YOUNG MASTER HAS THE CLASS FOR THIS
4.10 Sandown (Gold Cup) The 26lb handicap range, which helped Just A Par win this last year, has narrowed to 15lb and there are no distinguishing stats: age, rating, weight, last run are all the same for everybody.
So I felt there was no point in an ABC guide this week. They’re all of a heap, though you could crab the Racing Post top-rating, Henri Parry Morgan, and the bottomweight of the field, Gold Futures, for not having won a class 1 or 2 race outside novice company nor having beaten a big field.
Henri Parry Morgan and Saint Are also get black marks for having failed to win right-handed, and will be two of my place lays of the race.
Bishops Road (another lay) and Sausolito Sunrise look high in the handicap, while Bishops Road and Measureofmydreams could do with some juice in the ground.
No winner has run in the Grand National, which is another no-no for Le Reve, Just A Par, The Druids Nephew, Sir Des Champs, Hadrians Approach and Saint Are. Drop Out Joe tends to run too freely to last this trip.
Positives: the ground will suit The Young Master, whose efforts at Ascot and Cheltenham (holds Carole’s Destrier, Theatre Guide and Spring Heeled) suggest this race is exactly what he needs.
Southfield Theatre was making hesdway when he blundred and his form also reads righy for a crsck at something like this.
Of the top weights Dynaste is best suited by today’s conditions but we have to take his stamina for this on trust, and I bet 8.8 Southfield Theatre and 9.4 The Young Master.
My order in: 1 The Young Master, 2 Southfield Theatre, 3 Dynaste. Prizemoney: Nicholls £31,800; Mullins nil
VERDICT: NICHOLLS WINS BY A MERE £5,500
4.45 Sandown It’s all or nothing with Vroum Vroum Mag the only Willie Mullins runner. A £28,475 prize here would put Mullins back in the hunt.
I think Vroum Vroum can do it, different class to Ptit Zig, who won the juvenile hurdle (2.20) at this meeting two years ago but needs some cut in the ground.
I fancy Ubak for second but the crumbs for Nicholls would still amount to £9,355.
5.20 Sandown No Mullins runner; the baton is dropped, and Nicholls has three of the first four in the market.
But the horse I like on the race is Viva Steve (10.0 on BETDAQ), a tough sort who I would fancy taking the race on the hill after his fine finish at Newbury early in the month.
If two of the Nicholls horses chase him home, Ditcheat will pocket at least £8,316.
5.55 Sandown Mullins tips Bellow Mome (‘the better ground will help him’) and I like Graded-hurdle win McKinley (16.5 on BETDAQ), switched back from chasing.
If we assume this pair are the one-two, then Mullins takes £24,312 from the last with Nicholls £4,851 at best if his runners can follow him home. They’d better. I have him winning by just over £5,500.
LINCOLN LINED UP BY IN-FORM CHANNON
2.10 Haydock It will be interesting to see if there is any improvement in Willie Haggas’s Predominance (6.4 offers early mouse) on this sounder surface. He’s had two big-field races on soft-heavy, including the Spring Mile, and now drops back in trip.
Mick Channon has made a great start and Lincoln (8.8 in the orange) will carry 7lb less than when third in this race last year. Has been gelded during the winter.
3.20 Haydock When Gabrial’s Kaka, drawn wide, was fourth in this last year, he was giving a stone to the winner, Wilde Inspiration, who now receives only a pound.
‘Kaka’ was also placed second the year before, giving 23lb to the winner, Yourartisonfire, so now 25lb better for threeparts of a length!
Back-to-form, third, in the Irish Lincolnshire and a Chelmsford winner of the Newbury Spring Cup on the last day, it seems inconceivable that he can be pushed out of the frame at these weights, now drawn 2.
Four-year-olds have won both runnings of the race, so we need to save on the now-gelded Mustaaqeem, another well-placed handicapper for in-form Sir Michael Stoute.
I ditched Mustaqeem and Gabrial’s Kaka, both on 9.8, though I had a long look at Birdman, fourth in the Lincoln but I was just too worried about his weight.
Classic Collection goes well fresh and has been gelded but he’s up 10lb in the ratings and down two furlongs in trip.
IS ‘LIONS’ THE PRIDE OF THE WOOD DITTON?
8.50 Wolverhampton Does the Wood Ditton have a heart of gold this year? Do you remember, 10 days ago (check the Daqman Archive), I recommended the Wood Ditton Stakes as a race usually packed with horses to follow?
Tonight is it’s first test, as the fourth horse home in that race at the Craven meeting, Heart Of Lions, is the first to reappear. He swerves a Sunday entry for this one.
DAQMAN BETS (staked to win 30 points, except the lays)
BET 5.5pts win PREDOMINANCE and 3.8pts win LINCOLN (2.10 Haydock)
BET 10pts win VOIX DU REVE (2.20 Sandown)
BET 3.4pts win on each MUSTAAQEEM and GABRIAL’S KAKA (3.20 Haydock)
PLACE LAYS to lose 10pts each HENRI PARRY MORGAN, SAINT ARE and BISHOPS ROAD, plus BET 3.75pts win SOUTHFIELD THEATRE and 3.5pts win THE YOUNG MASTER (4.10 Sandown)
BANKER: BET 30pts win (nap) VROUM VROUM MAG (4.45 Sandown)
DAQMAN BETS (staked to win 20 points, except bankers SP)
BANKER: BET 20pts win VALSEUR LIDO (2.55 Sandown)
BANKER: BET 20pts win SPRINTER SACRE (3.35 Sandown)
BET 2pts win and place VIVA STEVE (5.20 Sandown)
BET 1.3pts win and place McKINLEY (5.55 Sandown)
BET 7pts win HEART OF LIONS (8.50 Wolverhampton)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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