TALE OF TWO WEEKEND LINCOLNS: Daqman starts his countdown to the start of the Flat and Spring Double of Lincoln Handicap and Grand National with a tale of two Lincolns which will be staged next weekend at Doncaster and The Curragh.
TOM AND TONY BOTH GO SOLO: He tries a winner-in-two bet in the Ulster National at Downpatrick, while in England he can’t resist solo rides for both Tony McCoy and Tom Scudamore, one at Wincanton, one at Market Rasen.
O’BRIEN COULD BOWL A LINCOLN GOOGLY
Lincoln Date 1: Aidan O’Brien’s four-year-old Bishan Bedi is so highly regarded, he is entered for the Group-3 Gladness Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday, April 19th.
Yet Bishan Bedi, named after the only Indian bowler to take 1,500 first-class wickets, could open his season at the earlier Curragh meeting (next Sunday) in a handicap, the Irish Lincolnshire.
Ballydoyle has had four AW winners at Dundalk over the winter, including a double for Bishan Bedi, starting at 7f (the Gladness trip), then stepping up to a mile, which of course is the distance of the Irish Lincoln.
He’s improved 19lb, according to the handicapper, between those two victories in January (under Donnacha O’Brien) and on the last day for Ana O’Brien.
The entries suggest that the gelding’s agenda is not just part of the learning curve for the jockey family O’Brien. Stamina in big fields and a fast-run race will be no problem, with the dam’s side getting up to 1m 5f on the Flat and 2m 4f over hurdles.
Speed and stamina and a hurdles pedigree? Surprised we didn’t see him in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham, then!
Lincoln Date 2: Another prolific scorer, a 7f act on AW, and one of Sir Mark Prescott’s sequence horses with five wins in a row, is the Cape Cross mare Don’t Be.
Entered in the Lincoln at Doncaster on Saturday, the day before the Irish version, Don’t Be is also highly regarded, deemed indeed by jockey Luke Morris as likely to improve and get black type from a place at least in Pattern company.
And again, like Bishan Bedi, Don’t Be’s dam’s side contains two-milers; in fact, the dam is a granddaughter of a 1,000 Guineas winner.
Like Bishan Bedi, Don’t Be has a conditions-race entry after the Lincoln, but so close – five days later – that she has to go one way or the other.
Will Sir Mark choose the AW Fillies’ And Mares’ Championships Stakes at Lingfield Park on April 3? Don’t Be had a wind op late last year and went up 30lb for her five in a row, and further improvement is likely after a break.
PUNTING MADNESS FOR ULSTER NATIONAL
3.25 Wincanton Tony McCoy is on a losing run of 11 but his tip for the top (sorry Pot) could go halfway to fruition in this conditionals’ hurdle.
McCoy rode Scoop The Pot to victory at Ludlow over two miles but reported to trainer Philip Hobbs – a stable just back to form – that the five-year-old would make a good three-miler.
Scoop The Pot steps up another half-mile today, with the one likely to block his path, Seaviper, 5.5 on BETDAQ this morning. Today’s racing in England is all righthanded, and Seaviper, who goes for a hat-trick today, is two from two going clockwise.
McCoy missed the winning ride I forecast earlier in the week when Foryourinformation won at Bangor for Rebecca Curtis yesterday.
He teams up with the same outfit on Imagine The Chat (4.30), a bumper winner for the jockey before tackling hot company in hurdles won by Defnitly Red, then Champagne Express, at Newbury and Chepstow.
Brother Tedd – also dropped in class – and CD-winner Southfield Vic are both claimed off so I’ll take McCoy’s only ride on the card at 5.4 this morning to turn over the odds-on Southfield Vic.
3.45 Downpatrick (Ulster National) Terence O’Brien’s Co Cork yard had had a stinking season with one winner from 39 starters until scoring back-to-back eight days ago and again on Tuesday, and the stage is set for a return to form by More Madness (6.6 early-mouse BETDAQ offers).
Paul Townend has been booked for the course winner, who has an Irish National hero on his dam’s side and ran well in the Punchestown National Trial six weeks back when his stable was out of form.
More Madness has since reversed placings at Naas with the third horse home at Punchestown, Paul Nolan’s Jupitor.
Bose Ikard was hit for a stone and more rise by the handicapper after completing a hat-trick last summer but, still only seven, he could improve again after a break.
4.10 Market Rasen Four times a Market Rasen winner, Mister Wiseman (8.0 on BETDAQ this morning) can ’do a Carruthers’ and belie his years, back within a pound of his last winning mark.
Trainer Nigel Hawke, two out of two, still standing, in the last week, asks Tom Scudamore to make the journey to Lincolnshire for the one ride, with the ground now in his horse’s favour.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked 1 to 9; banker 10)
BET 4pts win on each SEAVIPER and SCOOP THE POT (3.25 Wincanton)
BET 5pts win on each MORE MADNESS and BOSE IKARD (3.45 Downpatrick)
BET 5pts win MISTER WISEMAN (4.10 Market Rasen)
BET 7pts win (nap) IMAGINE THE CHAT (4.30 Wincanton)
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