BULL’S-EYE STATUS FOR BETS AT NEWBURY: OUCH! Daqman was suffering yesterday. His four selections finished 3223, including a second at 14-1 (his sole w/p return, which was 18.5 on BETDAQ). Can he do better with his weekend wagers? One at Kelso is napped; two at Newbury given (win-50) bull’s-eye status.
DAQMAN HAS DOUBLE PRICEWISE RETURNS: Daqman starts the day leading Pricewise 44-22 (profit: Daqman +32 Pricewise +5). The new Irish Flat season starts tomorrow and it’s the opening of the English Flat turf season at Doncaster next Saturday. Watch this space!
WAIT FOR IT! WIN-50 NAPS BACK NEXT WEEK: Watch, too, for the return of the Bull’s-Eye Nap, a best bet of the day but where the price is good odds against and the bet is staked to win 50. Three from three so far.
WINSTON HAS ‘C’ FOR CLASS..
2.25 Kelso The North has successfully defended these Kelso prizes for years but a date away from the major meets and a prizemoney boost – this hurdle is now worth £25,000 to the winner, for instance – has the horseboxes rolling from as far South as Harry Fry’s Dorset yard.
His classy Winston C, back-to-back novice winner, starts on a high mark but was impressive at Wincanton and Sandown, though I’d like to have seen the form franked. Ingleby Hollow has similar form but at a lower level.
Tom George is a travelling man, too. Champagne City, up from Gloucester, ran well, placed at Newbury, on the last day but has only a 1-9 strike rate since going handicapping.
Joke Dancer went clear of a recent dual winner at Newcastle. Highly regarded, though a second wind op is a worry; so is the current form of Sue Smith’s yard (1-19), and I’ll stick with 6.8 BETDAQ offer Winston C.. blood, sweat and maybe tears!
3.0 Kelso Nigel Twiston-Davies is a marathon man. He steps up 24lb-improved hat-trick winner Blue Flight to his longest trip, after beating Black Corton in a Listed here on this very track on the last day.
Calipso Collonges is a ‘proper stayer’, according to trainer Olly Murphy, who saddled him to land four consecutive hurdles successes up to 3m and is just now improving him over fences. Gets a stone from Blue Flight but better BETDAQ offers, 7.4 against 6.2.
3.35 Kelso Well, well, well. You Only Live Once. And Yolo is here with the band, no doubt. It’s a long way away from Worthy Farm, site of the Glastonbury Festival.
Yolo’s trainer of 4.4 offer Worthy Farm, Paul Nicholls, won this three years ago using a 5lb claimer, so presumably Lorcan Williams is singing to Jack Sherwood: anything you can do! (That’s enough about pop music – Ed).
YOUNG JONJO IS MAKING A NAME
2.05 Newbury This is run over the Ladbrokes Trophy (ex-Hennessy) course and is a very tough race to win.
But most stayers of ability are well enough known, so that the last seven winners have all been fancied horses at SPs of 7-2 to 7-1.
Perhaps we should look no further than Strong Pursuit, with back-in-form Philip Hobbs (11 winners from 41 starters) but this one, though nine, has raced over regulation fences just twice.
When he won here at Newbury – his sole chasing success – there were only two other finishers. He did win a Point over 3m, but only four completed, so you can’t even be sure he’ll get the trip in this company.
You have to take the word of jockey Richard Johnson: ‘He’s an out-and-out staying chaser.’ Prove it, Richard; prove it!
Ciaran Gethings steered Classic Ben down an advantageous route out wide at Sandown and he could be an improver at age only six, though his last eight races, hurdles and fences, were from a rating always within 4lb of today’s mark.
Joe Farrell has had just one losing start since winning the Scottish Grand National last April, following success a year ago on yesterday’s card here in the Brown Chamberlin Trophy.
His reappearance run was in a veterans’ chase on this course and he usually wins when fresh, but looked backward. Did they have today’s race in mind or an Ayr repeat? The stable is out of form, so I’ll guess it’s Ayr.
Chic Name, the Highland National winner, also last April, is back to that winning mark, with four modest efforts since.
Luckofthedraw has won only at 2m so this is a big hike in trip by that champion of the staying breed, Nigel Twiston-Davies. Says Warren Greatrex of lightly raced Rock My Style: the further the better!
Verdict: It’s a very tricky contest, but the juvenile handicap hurdle (2.40) is even harder. So I’ll have my pound in this one on 8.2 BETDAQ offer Chic Name, winner of the Brown Chamberlin here two years ago, down in the weights and with young Jonjo O’Neill claiming another 5lb.
BITE COULD LAND 7.4 BIG FISH
3.15 Newbury (Mares NH Series Final) The 7.4 BETDAQ favourite, She Might Bite, might just about be good enough to give Nicky Henderson his fourth winner of this.
Unlucky last time, but well in front of previous winner Johnbb when second at Sandown, that one having finished within four lengths or so of Birchdale in December. Birchdale, also Henderson trained, won a Grade-2 novice 18 lengths at Cheltenham in January.
Compare with The White Mouse, who beat just two others at Doncaster three weeks ago, one of them Oscar Rose.
Etamine De Cochet (could improve for wind op/tongue tie) and A Little Chaos are known front-runners, and it’s asking a lot to resist any ‘hidden horse’ from this big field.
One of those could be Meep Meep (14.5 offers), ideally bred for stamina and general improvement at her age. Tom Scudamore has always liked her and stays loyal after getting bogged down in the mud at Haydock on the last day. Meep Meep has had a holiday before this first handicap.
Annie Mc improved from her Market Rasen defeat by Outofthisworld but was hit with a 10lb rise for stepping out of novice company and winning a handicap at Chepstow.
DAQMAN’S BETS
2.05 Newbury (win 20)
BET 2.75pts win CHIC NAME
2.25 Kelso (win 30)
BET 5pts win WINSTON C
3.00 Kelso (win 20)
BET 3pts win CALIPSO COLLONGES
3.15 Newbury (win 50)
BULL’S-EYE BET: 7.75pts win SHE MIGHT BITE
BULL’S-EYE BET: 3.75pts win MEEP MEEP
3.35 Kelso (win 30)
BET 9pts win (nap) WORTHY FARM
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