DAQMAN ONE-TWO IN THE DONCASTER CUP: 16 SUPERNAPS UP: Daqman named first and second in the Doncaster Cup with his supernap, Stradivarius (WON 4-11), and danger, Alerta Roja (2nd 16-1), but was out of luck when Hoo Ya Mal (2nd 2-1) and Armor (2nd 5-4) were earlier beaten a nose and a neck, respectively.
DAQMAN LEADS PRICEWISE 53-32 ON A CLASSIC DAY’S RACING: Daqman has three Fortune Cookies and four bull’s-eye bets today on a day of all days in England, with the St Leger, and Ireland, with five Classic winners lining up at Leopardstown. Standings:
DAQMAN 53, PRICEWISE 32
SUPERNAPS 16-21 (76%)
LAYS LOGIC 13-18 (72%)
FORTUNE COOKIES 11-27 (40%)
IRISH TEST OF FIVE CLASSIC WINNERS
LEOPARDSTOWN As well as the English Classic at Doncaster today, Ireland has a sensational double header of Champion Stakes at Leopardstown this afternoon and, tomorrow at the Curragh, the Irish St Leger plus the Moyglare and National Stakes tests for two-year-olds.
Today alone, the Leopardstown card features FiVE 2021 Classic winners. Here they are in their respective tests:
MOTHER EARTH and EMPRESS JOSEPHINE (1.40 Matron Stakes) The Newmarket 1,000 Guineas winner Mother Earth, beaten three times since, was back to form at Deauville early last month for her second Group 1.
Three-year-olds have won the race six years running, and her age group also has Empress Josephine and Acanella, who held off Champers Elysees (last year’s winner of this) at the Curragh two weeks back, when in receipt of 7lb. Acanella can hold Champers again, despite being 2lb worse off.
Empress Josephine won the Irish 1,000 but has been well beaten since, including in the Coronation Stakes when she had similar heavy ground to that she enjoyed for her Classic victory.
MAC SWINEY (2.10 Boomerang Mile) He also won his Classic, the Curragh 2,000 Guineas, on soft-heavy and he, too, has not enjoyed that ground since nor, it seems, has he coped with the extra distance of the English and Irish Derbys, and the Juddmonte International; unplaced in all three.
Mac drops to Group 2 here but gives 6lb to Fev Rover, who was third to Mother Earth – in front of Alcohol Free and Scared – in the Newmarket 1,000 Guineas and has the ground she needs today.
In seven starts Snapraeterea has been stuck fast on 105, a Listed-level animal as confirmed the last day, dropped back to 7f but inexplicably hiked in the ratings.
POETIC FLARE and ST MARK’S BASILICA (2.45 Irish Champion Stakes) Probably the best colt in training in Europe, St Mark’s Basilica faces a tactical situation which Ryan Moore should win, now that he knows from the Coral-Eclipse that the dual French Classic winner can accelerate away from young and old alike at this trip.
The Newmarket 2,000 winner, Poetic Flare, has his ground but is untried over 1m 2f. He has been held in four of his five starts since winning the Guineas; including by St Mark’s Basilica and Mac Swiney.
Though rated 10lb and more inferior to the others, Patrick Sarsfield has to give weight all round, and Tarnawa has to give to the three-year-olds.
Tarnawa, who won three straight Group 1 events last year (Opera, Vermeille and Breeders Cup Turf), and returned at Cork last month is only around 5-1 for the Arc.
That’s her trip and she looks vulnerable in a small-field tactical race on today’s ground. She won the Opera over 10 furlongs last October but that was on heavy in slow time.
BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE 11.5 Acanella (1.40), 9.8 Fev Rover (2.10), 2.0 St Mark’s Basilica (2.45)
STAMINA KEY TO INTERPRETATION
⭕ DONCASTER 3.35 St Leger SEE form and ratings in Daqman Thursday.
Your search for the final Classic winner must necessarily involve proven stayers, late developers and improvers, with the final demand that your selection should have ‘class.’
No horse is perfect today. Interpretation fits all three form slots but falls down, as yet, on the ’final demand’: he hasn’t even been placed in a Group race, so didn’t make my form guide on St Leger stats.
But, as an unexposed son of Galileo out of a Dansili mare related to an Arc winner, he has it in his blood, and looks good for a place, if he can bring his stamina into play.
He’s a stone behind Hurricane Lane on the ratings but has raced only four times and has won his last two races at 1m 5f and 1m 6f, beating Fernando Vichi.
Fernando Vichi stopped The Mediterranean at Leopardstown in June but was fully 17 lengths behind Hurricane Lane in the Irish Derby. So the interpretation of
Interpretation must be: strong stayer in the making, not far short of Classic standard; likely Cup horse for 2022 but could surprise.
High Definition, third to Hurricane Lane in the Dante and behind in the Irish Derby, must bounce back in first-time cheekpieces but, though he showed class as a two-year-old, he fails on all three of my tests of form and potential this season.
Sir Lucan, who showed stamina to win at Navan early on, has already tried cheekpieces (when fourth in the Great Voltigeur) and was beaten by Ottoman Emperor at Goodwood.
Epsom Derby runner-up, Mojo Star, has had only five runs but – well behind Hurricane Lane at The Curragh – has marked time in his rating, 114 for the third race running today, but strong in the markets last night.
That leaves Ottoman Emperor, my ante-post bet, as ‘the one most likely to’, a late developer (unraced until this Spring; now four in a row) and improver by 21lb.
With four Aidan O’Brien runners, we know it will be a test, and I always look in this race for a Cup horse for next year. That would be Interpretation.
BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE 15.5 Interpretation.
PORTLAND POWER PLUNGE FROM 23.0
⭕ 1.45 Doncaster (Portland Handicap) What you need for a plot at the back end of the season is a ‘hidden horse’ (not much recent racing) given a wake–up run and with a top jockey booked to do the job.
Enter stage left Premier Power under Oisin Murphy. Back, gelded, after a break with a thorough pipe-opener at Newmarket a month ago. I say ‘stage left’ because he’s drawn 6.
But winners by stall of this 5.5f sprint in the last nine years (2012 first) have been 21, 12, 15, 10, 12, 22, 18, 14 18, so we clearly need something else drawn middle to high side.
Count d’Orsay (out of 15) is down in the ratings to a mark close to his winning form of a year ago for a trainer with 100-plus winners this season, including the Nunthorpe star.
I managed to get 23.0 Premier Power and 32.80 Count d’Orsay last night. This morning they were offered at 15.5 and 29.0 respectively and I put them into play at those prices.
⭕ 2.20 Doncaster (Champagne Stakes) Reach For The Moon rates a pound higher than Lusail, yet receives 3lb. That could be decisive.
Team Hannon has won this race five times in the decade and Lusail looked extra special in the Gimcrack but his July Course wins are the ones well franked.
Noble Truth, third behind him in June, won here yesterday; Asymmetric, his runner-up in the July Stakes, was third in the Morny.
Reach For The Moon beat yesterday’s Sales-race winner, Harrow, at Newbury, and was impressive in the Solario, slamming Great Max. The pair had been second and third to Point Lonsdale in the Chesham, so the form seems very solid.
⭕ 3.00 Doncaster (Park Stakes) In the absence of Sacred, who beat him a length in the Hungerford, Laneqash now represents the Fortune Cookies as top rating but still receiving 4lb from the International winner, Danyah.
BETDAQ value 2.84 Laneqash (3.00)
DAQMAN BETS
FORTUNE COOKIES
2.20 Doncaster
REACH FOR THE MOON
2.45 Leopardstown (nap)
ST MARK’S BASILICA
3.00 Doncaster
LANEQASH
(2pts win treble the three)
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BULL’S-EYE BETS
1.45 Doncaster (win 50)
BET 3.5pts win PREMIER POWER
BET 1.75pts win COUNT D’ORSAY
3.35 Doncaster (win 50, place win 12)
BET 3.5pts win and place INTERPRETATION
ANTE-POST (win 50 bull’s-eye bet)
BET 7.5pts win OTTOMAN EMPEROR
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OTHER BETS
1.40 Leopardstown (win 20)
BET 2pts win ACANELLA
2.10 Leopardstown (win 20)
BET 2.25pts win FEV ROVER
What are points? Points facilitate a staking plan, which is the secret to creating profit. One point is whatever you choose: a pound, a euro, or whatever ….
Start with a bank and decide how much you can afford to lose over a period of time, and determine the size of your bets accordingly. Daqman makes this variation every day.
