25-1 YORK COUP FOR DAQMAN: A 50-point bull’s-eye strike and a 25-1 winner on the same card at York yesterday added to Daqman’s big hitters earlier in the week at the Ebor meeting. Here they are before the final day today:
WON 25-1 CANOODLED (Friday, pictured below) BETDAQ 31.0
WON 6-1 SHADOW DANCE (Friday) win-50 bull’s-eye bet
WON 3-1 CONTENT (Thursday)
WON 14-1 EXTENSIO (Wednesday)
WON 10-1 JM JUNGLE (Wednesday)
CORKS POP FOR EPIC EBOR
⭕ 3.35 York (Ebor Handicap) STARK STATS: Just two winning favourites this century! Only one over the age of six. No winner with less than 9st in the decade, with 18 of the last 22 in a double-figure stall (10 years: 16, 6, 15, 18, 21, 2, 12, 14, 20, 24).
Trouble in running in this, sometimes as bad as Goodwood, yet come-from-behind horses usually catch the low-drawn leaders.
DAQMAN says: Hip-hop Irish raiders dance before your eyes on the usual tough Ebor handicap card but I’m tempted to Cork man, David O’Meara, who has trained in Yorkshire since 2010. He has Epic Poet and Iron Lion top of my list.
1: EPIC POET Hold-up horse drawn 16, having first run over 1m 6f. Second in a class-2 handicap over 1m 4f at Royal Ascot on firm when Fairbanks was 6th.
Not much room, kept on from the rear, 5th in the John Smith’s Cup here at York in July (good to soft).
1: IRON LION – his stablemate – has impressed at 1m 4f, always doing enough to beat yesterday’s big handicap winner here, Shadow Dance. Stall 19.
3: QUEENSTOWN Only dual Gold Cup hero Kyprios has beaten Queenstown in the four-year-old’s two races – the Vintage Crop and the Levmoss – over 1m 6f. Usually a front-runner but drawn 22.
HIPOP DE LOIRE races prominently (drawn 2) and is seven years old. Last won two years ago in a Listed at the Hoppegarten and has not raced on the Flat in 2024.
Gelded before being moved to Willie Mullins and beating nothing well in a maiden hurdle at Galway.
Mullins won the Ebor last year with a Royal Ascot runner-up, Absurde, and Vauban won the Lonsdale for the stable yesterday.
MAGICAL ZOE Fourth to Absurde over Jumps at Cheltenham. Just fell short in Group-3 Stanerra Stakes, one of just three Flat starts, but stall 1 tricky in this cavalry charge round the Knavesmire.
BURDETT ROAD In fine form on the Flat last year (two wins on GF for Michael Bell), then back-to-back hurdles wins for James Owen on the soft in November, including Triumph Hurdle Trial. Races in touch; drawn 3.
NAQEEB has won only once on turf; My Mate Mozzie was a good third at Royal Ascot but is eight now. Ziggy is on his highest ever mark and the stable is 0-15 and was put in his place by Relentless Voyager on the soft at Epsom and earlier by Crystal Delight in the City And Suburban.
Betdaq Betting Exchange 8.4 Queenstown, 9.6 Epic Poet, 26 Iron Lion
FOREST WORTH A FORTUNE
⭕ 3.00 York (City Of York Stakes) Older horses have won three in a row and Kinross goes for a hat-trick for Ralph Beckett (he trains fillies, you know).
They will be hoping the ground stays firm and his third at Goodwood behind Audience and Art Power may be good enough but Audience is 2-3 this season and two years younger.
But I shall go for a three-year-old; they won five years running between 2015 and 2019, and I reckon FORTUNE COOKIE Lake Forest is of that ilk.
Gimcrack winner last season, he went second in the final strides of the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot and went second towards the finish of the Hackwood at Newbury behind Elite Status.
Daqman’s one-two: Lake Forest at 5.2 on BETDAQ and Audience at 2.48.
LEAVE THIS TO MR GOODWOOD
⭕ 3.50 Goodwood Despite his name, Goodwood Odyssey has so far proved elusive at Goodwood but has strong claims on his first course visit in this competitive class 2 handicap.
Trained by David Menuisier who has sent out three winners from his last 14 runners, the lightly raced Goodwood Odyssey is fitted with blinkers for the first time, partly you would suspect because he seemed to lose concentration in the closing stages at Newmarket last time out when third to Lord Of Love. The winner has run well enough since and the form looks just about the strongest on offer.
Our Golden One was a runaway five length winner on soft ground at Doncaster in April but has twice since had her limitations exposed in better class races.
HAS AN EARTHLY CHANCE
⭕ 5.02 Newmarket Good Earth won this last year off a mark of 84 and whilst he has only won one of 13 subsequent starts it’s hard to ignore his chance of a repeat win from a mark of 8lb lower.
It’s not as if his form has tailed off – he comes into this on the back of solid performances at York and at Windsor last time out when he finished a good third over this trip to Nazron.
The danger has to be the hat-trick seeking Spring Bloom who bids for a rapid course hat-trick but his two victories earlier this month have both come over six furlongs. Both the wins came via narrow margins and the combination of the further rise in the weights and step back in trip tilt the scales in favour of Good Earth for me.
DAQMAN’S BETS
3.00 York (win 30)
BET 10pts win LAKE FOREST
BET 8 to win 12 AUDIENCE
3.35 York (win-50 bull’s-eye bets)
BET 7pts win QUEENSTOWN
BET 5.75pts win EPIC POET
BET 1pt win and place to win 30 IRON LION
3.50 Goodwood (win 10, nap)
BET 5.9pts win GOODWOOD ODYSSEY
5.02 Newmarket (win 10
BET 3.7pts win GOOD EARTH
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