TWO BANKERS AND BIG RACE UP: Well done, Daqman! He landed the big-race winner of the day in the Haydock Sprint plus two bankers out of two and an 11-2 shot, narrowly missing out on a bull’s-eye bet to win 50 points when his 12-1 choice was clear until caught close home.
WON 11-2 Hathal
WON 7-2 Quiet Reflection
2nd 12-1 Georgian Bay
WON 11-10 Arab Spring (banker nap)
WON 4-11 Well Done (banker from 2.1)
71-31: NOW FOR THE ST LEGER: It was a 1-1 draw in Daqman’s challenge to Pricewise, with Pricewise winning on points (New Caledonia 12-1) but Daqman taking the main race of the day (Quiet Reflection 7-2). The scores are now 71-31 to Daqman. They will be back in contention for the St Leger next week.
GERMAN GROUP-1 COULD PRODUCE AN ARC FILLY: Today’s £250,000 Group-1 big race at Baden-Baden could produce a filly for the Arc De Triomphe or the Breeders Cup in the hoofprints of the mighty German mare Danedream. Daqman naps her as his Euro best but has a Cesarewitch outsider as a nap in England.
SUNNY SAINT-CLOUD’S DOUNYAPOUR
2.30 Saint-Cloud The downpour will wait for Monday, according to the Paris weather forecast, but Dounyapour can’t wait to prove himself in this Prix de Lutece.
The race is farmed by his trainer, Alain de Royer-Dupre, who has won it six times since 2005, including last year with seven-wins-in-a-row Vazirabad, one of Europe’s top stayers on the evidence of the Prix Royal Oak success and Arc-day triumph that followed.
Dounyapour, being prepared for the same double for the Aga Khan, does not yet have the form of Cleonte but is unexposed after only three races.
3.50 Saint-Cloud English raiders, which won this second Group-3 of the afternoon here three times in a row (2007-9), could retake the prize through Mark Johnston, who landed four winners in England yesterday.
However, after she won a Listed at Chantilly, Baileys Showgirl seemed found out on the last day, fading to third in a Group 3.
And Team of Teams, a suitable eponymous epithet for Jean-Claude Rouget’s squad, has looked greatly in need of this step up in trip and was supplemented for the race.
The next big spend could be to supplement Team of Teams for the Prix Lagardere, the old Grand Criterium on Arc day, taken twice in three seasons by winners of today’s race.
5.40 Saint-Cloud There are huge questions to be answered here. Was James Fanshawe’s Arthenus flattered by his close proximity to New Bay at Deauville three weeks ago?
The 2015 French Derby winner, New Bay, third in Golden Horn’s Arc last October, was getting back on track for his autumn campaign.
Next question: would First Sitting blow his Cambridgeshire rating by winning this? He’s failed twice over 1m 4f in an experiment by Chris Wall, who brought him back to 10f at Newmarket for a resounding success, albeit in a handicap.
Big Blue has managed a Group place four times, and was second in the opening Prix De Lutece behind top stayer Vazirabad a year ago.
You’d think then that today’s 10f would be too short for Big Blue but he won at Chantilly over the trip, by making all the running and scooting clear.
Now We Can is another flexible friend, racing from 9.5f to 16f. Second in the 2m Belmont Gold Cup, he is back in trip here but now aged seven.
The bookies were betting 3-1 each of four this morning, so I determined to wait for the BETDAQ orange list nearer the race, hoping to see some market indicators.
SERIENHOLDE IS GOING TO THE TOP
3.40 Baden-Baden (Grosser Preis Von Baden) The recent quality of this race was massively boosted by the Arc winner Danedream and King George hero Novelist.
The Racing Post Spotlight does not think another German filly Serienholde good enough to emulate Danedream in the Arc at Longchamp in October.
They’ve got that right for sure, since this year’s Arc – maybe even next year’s, too, the way that building work is going – will be run at Chantilly.
Last year’s runner-up in this Group 1, Nightflower, looks a danger but Marco Botti’s Dylan Mouth has to give the three-year-olds a big lump of weight and needs rain (there’s a drought in the area).
So I’ll side with Serienholde, as an impressive winner of the German Oaks, well ahead of Irish Oaks third, Architecture, which franks the form.
Serienholde doesn’t seem to mind what the ground is like, so she has a choice of the Arc or the Breeders Cup, for which success in this grosser preis is an automatic invitation.
SWASHBUCKLE CESAREWITCH CLAIM
3.10 York Danzeno, who won on soft as a juvenile, has won only once since June, 2014, but will never have a better chance than he has today.
He’s been close up to the finishers in the Haydock Sprint, July Cup (twice) and British Champions Sprint, to name but a few as they say.
Golden Amber will appreciate the cut in the ground. Though the Dean Ivory run seems to be over (0-17 in the last fortnight), the trainer has a 21% strike rate at York with a 21-point level-stakes profit suggesting that he can pop one in at a big price.
But it will be something of a surprise if she wins today, as Ivory is running her in this Listed because he feels she is unfairly treated in handicaps.
The 5.9 BETDAQ offer Nameitwhatyoulike, with only three runs to his name this year, has put back-to-back success together before, and is a CD winner.
4.10 York Andrew Balding is on a hat-trick today after winners at Ascot and Haydock and, if 40-1 Cesarewitch outsider Swashbuckle is to stand any chance at HQ in October, he needs to keep winning just to get a rating that gets him into the race!
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 5pts win DOUNYAPOUR (2.30 Saint-Cloud)
BET 4pts win on each NAMEITWHATYOULIKE and (stakes saver) DANZENO (3.10 York)
BET 6pts win (Euro nap) SERIENHOLDE (3.40 Baden-Baden)
BET 5pts win TEAM OF TEAMS (3.50 Saint-Cloud)
BET 8pts win (home nap) SWASHBUCKLE (4.10 York)
£25 IN FREE BETS
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