HELTER-SKELTON TO THE £5MILLION! After shock results on the Flat at Sandown yesterday, Daqman, for one, is glad to be back over jumps on the closing day of the season. Dan Skelton, who saddled his 192nd winner yesterday, is now just £45,330 short of £5m in prizemoney. He has packed the Esher card with 10 runners but has nothing for the Gold Cup.
DAN’S TEN UP FOR GLORY
HELD IN HIGHEST REGARD
NEXT WEEK: Guineas countdown; restored Epsom card; Punchestown championships.
DAN’S TEN UP FOR GLORY
SKELTON STARS AT BETDAQ OFFERS: Pitch your bets where you think the champion trainer will score in the quest for £5m, expect his odds per race to shorten up, win or lose, as the day progresses. Take your pick of them now at offers on the Betdaq Betting Exchange.
⭕ 1.13 Sandown (winner £28,475): Dan Skelton runs Made U Blush (BETDAQ 4.1) and Queen Maeve (24.0) 10 am offers
*Daqman says: Scottish Triumph Hurdle winner Made You Blush has stamina for the hill. Skelton has lines to La Luna Artist: he trained the favourite in the Adonis she won, and he beat her into 5th in the Triumph Trial with Maestro Conti, who then ran second in the Triumph proper.
⭕ 1.45 Sandown (£51,440): Dan Skelton runs Kadastral (BETDAQ 13.5) and Dutch Corner (26.0).
* Daqman says: Minella Yoga, 3rd in the Triumph Trial for Dan’s older guvnor, Paul Nicholls, won his qualifier for this novices’ championship by 10 lengths.
⭕ 2.20 Sandown (£45,560): Dan Skelton runs Doyen Quest (BETDAQ 4.3) and Etalon (14.5).
* Daqman says: Greatwood runner-up and Ultima 4th, Blow Your Wad is sure to stay the trip.
⭕ 2.55 Sandown (£99,663): Dan Skelton runs Thistle Ask (BETDAQ 3.5)and Mirabad (14.5).
* Daqman says: On better ground, Thistle Ask can avenge his Clarence House defeat by Jonbon.
⭕ 4.40 Sandown (£28,812): Dan Skelton runs Palamon (BETDAQ 4.6).
* Daqman says: Nico de Boinville can boss this small field with 3m Sandown winner Calimystic. The little tryer Go West has to give weight all round.
⭕ 5.15 Sandown (£18,211): Dan Skelton runs Listentoyourheart (BETDAQ 10.0).
* Daqman says: Despite winning a plum prize at Windsor on New Year’s Day, Listentoyourheart hasn’t moved off the 128 mark given her in 2024.
HELD IN HIGHEST REGARD
⭕ 3.30 Sandown (Gold Cup) STATS: Young horses aged seven and eight dominate (10 out of 11) and Sean Bowen has won it three times since 2015 but Resplendent Grey faces a double obstacle on the stats.
Only Topsham Bay (1992-3) has won it two years running since Larbawn (1968-9) and no horse with 12st has scored since Charlie Potheen in 1973. FORM: But the race today has less quality than last year, when Grangeclare West off 168 was set the 12st. Resplendent Grey is raised 10lb but still rated only 152.
He has to give 20lb to Montregard: Ascot specialist with 2-3 there, culminating in a Grade 3 in February, and promises to stay.
But In d’Or was less than four lengths behind him there, giving 12lb (now giving 5lb), when they were second and third to The Jukebox Kid in January, the form boosted since by the Scottish Grand National victory of the fourth horse home, Kap Vert.
Havaila is recently progressive. Has won at Sandown but his form at the trip – winner of the Sussex National in March – has shot him up 10lb, now 21lb more than on his first try at it, big-field 3rd at Windsor in January.
Ask Brewster won the Golden Miller (3m 4f) at Cheltenham last April and returned there to take the Kim Muir at the festival in March, all of which has cost him a 23lb rise.
The Kim Muir was the first attempt at a trip for Road To Home who was beaten only a neck by Ask Brewster, with Scottish National third, Kim Roque, in fourth.
Kap Vert stablemate Livin On Loco won the Southern National at Fontwell and fourth in the Welsh Grand National, both toward the end of last year.
Rock My Way won the Berkshire National in November and was runner-up in the Midlands Grand National in March but was easily held over nearly 4m by Transmission in the Edinburgh National.
Transmission was then put in his place, nearly 10 lengths off progressive Havaila in the Sussex National in March, which took that one up 10lb.
DAQMAN’S BETS
on Betdaq Betting Exchange
1.13 Sandown (win 21)
BET 7pts win MADE YOU BLUSH
1.45 Sandown (win 21)
BET 6pts win MINELLA YOGA
2.55 Sandown (win 21)
BET 6pts win THISTLE ASK
3.30 Sandown (win-50 bull’s-eye bet)
BET 7pts win ROAD TO HOME
BET 6pts to win 21 MONTREGARD
★ 4.40 Sandown (win 12, nap)
BET 10pts win CALIMYSTIC
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