IT’S A 7.0 HENNESSY BULL’S-EYE: Daqman declared ‘River Runs As Good Thing In The Yard’ and Native River (WON 7-2 from 7.0 on BETDAQ) duly landed a 50-point Bull’s Eye bet in the Hennessy Gold Cup for another super Saturday for our tipping ace, putting him 3-2 up on Pricewise this season. His five winners yesterday were:
WON 4-1 Who Dares Wins
WON 7-2 Native River (Hennessy, from 7.0 on BETDAQ)
WON 2-5 Bellshill (treble, Thistlecrack won 1-8, Invitiation Only won 1-4)
EIGHT BANKERS UP OUT OF NINE: The 10-lengths winner Bellshill, 4-6 in the morning, was Daqman’s eighth consecutive winning banker, still standing, the sequence spoiled by one unseated rider.
WON 4-5 Tara View
WON 8-11 Le Prezien
WON 4-7 Baron Alco
WON 8-15 Asthuria
WON 4-5 Yanworth
WON 2-1 Lough Derg Spirit
(Royal Plaza 8-13 UR)
WON 10-11 Jenkins
WON 2-5 Bellshill
ANOTHER MAXIMUM-STAKES BET: Today the Daqman v Pricewise clash switches to Ireland for the Troytown Chase, with the banker earlier on the card in the Monksfield Hurdle.
ELLIOTT ENDEAVOUR COULD BE REWARDED
2.20 Navan (Ladbrokes Troytown Chase) Alex Higgins came back to our party at York racecourse, clutching a bunch of betting tickets.
Have you backed Height Of Fashion? I asked. No! said Alex; should I? Yes, I said; Piggott’s riding instead of the injured Carson. Let’s put it this way: I think you got all the colours and missed the black!
Alex looked wounded, and disappeared as quickly as a ferret can run round a snooker table. A few minutes later, he looked much happier: ‘I backed them all,’ he said. ‘I can’t lose’.
Gordon Elliott is a different animal to the lean and hungry Higgins. Gordon is rounded and hungry; so hungry that he’s almost doing a Higgins and running 11 horses (repeat ELEVEN) in the Ladbrokes’ Troytown Chase this afternoon.
Tony Martin’s former stable boy owes me nothing; he won me a packet with Silver Birch in the Grand National and this column was on Cause Of Causes at 44.0 on BETDAQ (NH Chase) and 11.0 (Kim Muir) for both his wins at Cheltenham.
Thanks Gordon; but, just because I tip your winners, there’s no need to put 11 sheep in the pen and ask me to spot the best jumper. What an absolute sweater for a tipster!
It’s for sure there will be some woolly ones among the 25 starters; horses not yet ready to do themselves justice: five in the field have not been seen for 212 days or more, and nine Troytown winners out of 10 had run in the last 30 days.
If Gordon was fielding just two, he’d probably win it on form, since Cause Of Causes (yes, he’s still only eight!) and Empire Of Dirt are the best horses in the race. Snag is, the handicapper knows that, and they are 6lb and 8lb clear of the rest of the field at the top of the 25.
No winner in the decade carried more than 11st 7lb; and eight of the 10 had 10st 7lb or less. The last two were both out of the handicap (9st 13lb and 9st 8lb). Their trainer? Gordon Elliott.
Which of the Gordon Elliott X1 do we want batting for us today? Since Bryan Cooper can ride as light as 10st 1lb, we have presumably to respect his choice of Empire Of Dirt, who breaks two of the stats rules: he is saddled with 11st 8lb and has not run since scoring at the Cheltenham festival in March.
He went to Cheltenham after winning the Leopardstown Chase from stablemate Killer Crow, who is now 19lb better off and has David Mullins in the plate off 10st 5lb.
Killer Crow is adjacent in this musical chairs for jockeys to the riding find of the season, Donagh Meyler, who is charged with getting a tune out of another Elliott runner, Captain Von Trappe, who has looked reluctant lately.
Too much sweat for Barry Geraghty to to get down to 10st 2lb so leaves the good Galway winner, Hash Brown (12.0 BETDAQ best), to Mark Walsh and chooses Killer Miller, another coming here after a long absence.
The 40.0 offer Mad Brian (Robbie Colgan) and Georges Conn have both finished second in this race. Both have very poor form since but either one could bounce back.
From the Gordon Elliott team, I fancy that his top two keep the weights down for Noble Endeavour (6.4 best BETDAQ offers), who is much better than the bare form and has the audacious Davy Russell doing the steering.
THE NAP Out of half a dozen winners in my Daq Multiples in the last few days, only Bellshill was worth a banker, as other prices were so short.
Min (1.45 Navan), the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle runner-up, will also be unbackable on his chasing debut.
Four-year-olds don’t win the Monksfield Hurdle (12.40), and I don’t think Stretchingthetruth jumps well enough, while Lion In His Heart still has to learn to settle, and Monbeg Notorious was lucky to be left in the lead on the last day.
So it is that I expect another Mullins v Elliott head-on, with Death Duty at around evens this morning banked on to beat Livelovelaugh and give Gordon a good start to the day’s proceedings.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BANKER: BET 20pts win (nap) DEATH DUTY (12.40 Navan)
BET (to win 30 points) 5.75pts win NOBLE ENDEAVOUR, and 2.75pts win and place HASH BROWN, plus 1pt win and place MAD BRIAN (2.20 Navan)
DAQ MULTIPLES: DEATH DUTY (12.40 Navan) with MIN (1.45 Navan) and both NOBLE ENDEAVOUR and HASH BROWN (2.20 navan) in 2 x 2pt win trebles
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