5-1 CUP WINNER TWO YEARS RUNNING: So nearly a smash and grab for Daqman on Imperial Cup day, with Pic Roc 2nd 10-1, Faivoir 2nd 11-1 and Final Voyage 2nd 7-1, but the win-50 breakthrough again came in the Imperial Cup. He had the winner for the second year running, another 5-1 strike following Iceo (WON 5-1) last season.
WON 5-1 GO DANTE (Imperial Cup)
30-11 CLEAR! NEXT STOP CHELTENHAM: Daqman now leads Pricewise 30-11 and is in front by 787 points (Daqman +436.66 Pricewise -350.83).
TODAY: Daqman on the short-priced Cheltenham favourites.
TOMORROW: Daqman v Pricewise ante-post on the festival outsiders.
TUESDAY: Champion Hurdle day with more win-50 value bets.
⚠️ Cheltenham going now eased to soft; more rain expected.
CHELTENHAM STATS: Don’t forget to check out Daqman’s day by day, race by race stats pointers to Cheltenham (click below)
GOLD CUP SAVES CHELTENHAM
CHESS on four legs for those playing the individual pieces; shove ha’penny shuffleboard Cheltenham for punters.
Only one of the six hot favourites for the four-day festival was at the front of their market – and three of them changed races – when we closed down Fortune Cookies because of the crop picking by multiple-entry yards.
Someone had the king, queen, bishops and rooks and we tipsters and punters were pawns in the game. Even now two other short-priced doubly engaged contenders are not in the list because not certain which race they run in.
A specific example in which the result was being described as certain: those who thought that Constitution Hill would win and Lossiemouth would meet him in the Champion Hurdle have groaned at the daily bulletins.
The end-game is that one’s a non-runner and the other was diverted to the Mares Hurdle, even when it was known the odds-on Champion favourite was out.
Of the triple crown of Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup, only the gold survives as a competitive race.
In fact, you could pick any one of half a dozen and feel assured of a run for your money.
But how many of the festival’s hot half-dozen favourites will you back, solo or in mixed bets? Here are the so-called Super Six with the records of the hot favourites (2-1 and under) in their races.
2-5 STATE MAN Champion Hurdle, Tuesday (Willie Mullins)
Douvan (2016) won 2-1 fav; Appreciate It (2021) won 8-11 fav
1-2 LOSSIEMOUTH Mares Hurdle, Tuesday (Willie Mullins)
Quevega (2014) won 8-11 fav; Vroum Vroum Mag (2016) won 4-6 fav
10-11 FACT TO FILE Brown Advisory, Wednesday (Willie Mullins)
Don Poli (2015) won 13-8 fav; Monkfish (2021) won 1-4fav. Five favs won.
4-9 EL FABIOLO Champion Chase, Wednesday (Willie Mullins)
Altior (2018) 1-1 fav, (2019) 4-11 fav; Energumene (2023) 6-5 fav
6-5 SIR GINO Triumph Hurdle, Friday (Nicky Henderson)
Vauban (2022) 6-4 fav; Lossiemouth (2023) 11-8 fav. Five favs won.
1-1 DINOBLUE Mares Chase, Friday (Willie Mullins)
No favs have won.
TACTICS ARE CLEAR
⭕ 2.25 Warwick Tactical Affair is hovering around the 5/4 money mark on Betdaq Betting Exchange and the tactics should be to hoover that up.
The Warren Greatrex trained runner should really be a class above these on the form he showed in Ireland when trained by Gordon Elliott.
A winner at Cork last November, he followed up with a third at Punchestown and then disappointed in a relatively hot race at Clonmel won by the Willie Mullins trained odds-on shot Quai De Bourbon who is quoted at around 7/2 for the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham on Friday.
A change of scenery and a drop in grade can hopefully open the door for another win from Tactical Affair who probably has most to fear from King Of Tara who showed promise without winning in three starts in bumpers.
NO MOOD TO BACK FAVOURITES
⭕ 3.35 Warwick Daqman (generally) doesn’t like long sequences where horses are struggling to win.
We get just that with the two at the top of the market for this mares’ chase:
Anti Bridge 33-333
Lime Drop 0-2232
Both were beaten favourites last time out.
It’s long odds-on (coupled) that one is likely to end their luckless sequences but there could be a little bit of value in opposing them with Current Mood who is right in this on ratings and is also taking a drop in class after finishing fourth in what looked a better race at Newbury last out.
The downside is she has, so far, yet to create the form that saw her win three times over hurdles and trainer Evan Williams is not in great current form but at around 7.0 on Betdaq those are factored into the price and I’ll stake for a WIN 20 point return.
NOT SURE ABOUT TACTICS HERE
⭕ 4.02 Naas It’s not all about Cheltenham but it is all about Willie Mullins who has the short priced Tactical Move running in the feature at Naas today – a Grade 3 novice chase over 2m 4f.
He’s a very lightly raced sort (won 1 from 1 over hurdles) who got off the mark over fences at Gowran last time out on similar heavy ground but can’t really be a betting proposition in this four runner event.
Flanking Maneuver is a fair rival who is already part proven in this much higher grade.
TUNE INTO GG
⭕ 6.30 Southwell Radio Goo Goo has paid the price for four consecutive wins last year but is gradually sliding back down the handicap scale and can end the sequence of another four-timer seeker in the form of Just A Spark who has won her last two starts by a short head but is now up another 2lb and looks short in the market.
DAQMAN’S BETS
2.25 Warwick (win 10, nap)
BET 8.0pts win TACTICAL AFFAIR
3.35 Warwick (win 20)
BET 3.3pts win CURRENT MOOD
6.30 Southwell (win 10)
BET 3.3pts win RADIO GOO GOO
What are points? Points facilitate a staking plan, which is the secret to creating profit. One point is whatever you choose: a pound, a euro, or whatever ….
Start with a bank and decide how much you can afford to lose over a period of time, and determine the size of your bets accordingly. Daqman makes this variation every day.
Did you know? DAQMAN’s tips are posted each and every day so he’s always on hand to help with your horse racing betting.
