A SUNDAY BIG-RACE YANKEE: There’s a BETDAQ yankee set of big races today on the opening day of Fairyhouse (two for top novices), and at Plumpton (Sussex Champion Hurdle) and Ffos Las (West Wales National). Headlines:
🔹 HONEYSUCKLE WINS: NO CONTEST
🔹 CASTLE GETS HUGE FORM BOOST
🔹 I’M GOING BACK TO JACKSON..
🔹 KHAN IS SET TO SCORE AT LAST
IRISH NATIONAL TOMORROW: Tomorrow, Easter Monday, the spotlight is on the Irish Grand National but there are seven more meetings: Chepstow, Cork, Fakenham, Huntingdon, Plumpton, Redcar, Wolverhampton.
HONEYSUCKLE WINS: NO CONTEST
2.50 Fairyhouse (Mares’ Novice Hurdle Championship Final) Willie Mullins has landed this four times in six seasons, and gives himself seven chances of another one.
On jockey bookings, Eglantine Du Seuil (Ruby Walsh) seems to be Willie’s best shot to follow in the hoofprints of Laurina (2018), who won the Mares’ Novices’ at Cheltenham, and completed the double here.
Standing in the way of Eglantine – the prickly rose – is Honeysuckle, who swerved Cheltenham after completing a four-timer at Fairyhouse, the four containing defeats of Annie Mc, Sassy Diva and Tintangle.
Our only hope with the novices is to find some collateral form, and Tintangle was beaten 17 lengths by Honeysuckle at Fairyhouse, despite receiving a couple of pounds, while she got within a couple of lengths or so of Eglantine Du Seuil when giving that one 3lb. No contest then. In theory.
CASTLE GETS HUGE FORM BOOST
3.25 Plumpton (Sussex Champion Hurdle) Dan Skelton has won £2.25m but is still six short of 200 winners in a season in which his old guv’nor, Paul Nicholls, is champion trainer again with the 3,000th of his career. It would all sit together nicely if he could hit the six before the last day of the season on Saturday.
His outsider here, Mister Universum, a winner three times on good ground, has dodged the winter mud, and has dropped to a handy mark. The 19.5 on BETDAQ this morning looks big.
The favourite, Legal History, is still only four years old, which also applies to the local hero, Beat the Judge, Grade-2 runner-up at Kempton on a sound surface.
The one to stop Mister Universum may be Brandon Castle (5.9), who found the Supreme at Cheltenham a bit much but had completed a hat-trick at Plumpton over the winter, on the last day – on good going – easily beating Arthington, who just missed out by a head on the £30,000 prize for the Two-Mile Hurdle Series Final at Haydock Park yesterday.
I’M GOING BACK TO JACKSON..
4.20 Ffos Las (West Wales National) Dan Skelton won the first running of this in 2017, and is likely to saddle the favourite here in Get On The Yager. But will he like the ground?
Yager has plenty of form over a trip. Won 3m 2f at Fontwell (heavy), ninth and then third Midlands Grand National (heavy both times) but pulled up in the Scottish Grand National of 2018 on good ground.
Dell Arca won’t mind it but hasn’t won a chase since May 2015. Regal Flow has won one on a sound surface but his last three successes were on heavy and this one-time Midlands National winner is now a slow-as-you-go 12-year-old.
Samuel Jackson has been consistent over a trip on all sorts of ground and likes to be up there in the fighting line. They were going to put him away after he battled out his Taunton victory but he’s only seven and needs the experience. I took some of the 4.7 offers on BETDAQ.
Kingswell Theatre ran a terrific race in the Liverpool Grand National but they can take time to get over those fences, and the rest of his form is in banks races for the last two years.
KHAN IS SET TO SCORE AT LAST
4.25 Fairyhouse (RyanAir Novice Gold Cup) This race threw up a 168 animal in Road To Respect (2017) – much respected indeed – but followed up last year with one just now only 4lb short of that lofty mark in one fell swoop, Al Boum Photo winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.
The handicapper says that in today’s Ryanair, four horses are in a 4lb range, with Mengli Khan the tops on 154.
A BETDAQ 3.8 offer early mouse, Mengli Khan has been third consecutively in the Leopardstown Arkle, the Cheltenham JLT and the Manifesto at Aintree.
He won the BETDAQ Beginners’ Chase at Punchestown 10 lengths in his first race over fences but has been outsmarted but not overawed by some killer novices at the time (Le Richebourg, Defi Du Seuil, Kalashnikov).
Real Steel was 18 lengths behind Defi at Cheltenham; Voix Du Reve failed to finish behind both Defi and Le Richebourg but would have the potential to beat Mengli Khan if he stood up.
With Winter Escape it’s wait and see, returning after treatment for bursting blood vessels.
DAQMAN’S BETS
2.50 Fairyhouse (supernap)
BET 20pts win HONEYSUCKLE
3.25 Plumpton (each to win 30)
BET 6pts win BRANDON CASTLE
BET 1.5pts win and place MISTER UNIVERSUM
4.20 Ffos Las (win 20)
BET 5.5pts win SAMUEL JACKSON
4.25 Fairyhouse (win 10)
BET 3.25pts win MENGLI KHAN
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