DAQMAN DOUBLE DRAMA: Daqman plunged on a short-odds Wednesday double to show a profit on the day. It had a nerve-wracking start at Pontefract when Godsend veered right across the track but was corrected in time to get back up on the post in a very slow time. Today he seeks out some handicap openings, so much bigger BETDAQ offers.
WON 4-7 GODSEND
WON 2-13 ARABIAN LIGHT
THE FUTURE REVEALED: August is a wicked month for producing future stars in two-year-old races at Deauville and the Curragh. Today Daqman checks out the pick of 46 Aidan O’Brien winners.
O’BRIEN LEGENDS LAUNCHED
WHERE do Group-1 winners come from? WHICH races produce the stars? It’s a basic weapon in your betting armoury to trace them all.
For instance, three August two-year-old races have been won an incredible total of 46 times by the legend who creates legends, trainer Aidan O’Brien.
So how many of his future champions were launched on their Group-winning paths in the red-hot trio of juvenile events? Final ratings at left.
⭕ PHOENIX STAKES (Curragh, 6f, on Saturday): 17 O’Brien winners of the race.
124 Mastercraftsman (2008) went on to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes
120 George Washington (2005) won the 2,000 Guineas.
116 Little Big Bear (2022) completed four in a row in the Phoenix; won Sandy Lane Stakes this season and second in the Commonwealth Cup.
115 Caravaggio (2016) won the Flying Five and the Commonwealth Cup
LAST YEAR: Porta Fortuna (pictured below) (Donnacha O’Brien), four lengths second, has since won three Group-1s, the Cheveley Park, Coronation Stakes, and Falmouth.
⭕ FUTURITY STAKES (Curragh, 7f, August 24): 16 O’Brien winners.
126 Giants Causeway (1999) won six Group 1, including Eclipse and Sussex Stakes
123 Churchill (2016) won four Group 1, including English and Irish 2,000 Guineas
122 Anthony Van Dyck (2018) won the Epsom Derby
122 Cape Bianco (2009) won the Irish Derby and the Arlington Million.
122 Gleneagles (2014) won four Group 1, including English and Irish 2,000 Guineas.
121 Henry Longfellow (2023) won the National Stakes same year
⭕ DEBUTANTE STAKES (Curragh, 7f fillies, August 24): 13 O’Brien winners.
122 Magical (2017) won seven Group 1, including English and Irish Champion Stakes.
112 Rhododendron (2016) won the Opera and the Lockinge.
109 Meditate (2022) won the Yorkshire Oaks.
SECRET OF THE HANDICAP
⭕ 4.00 Brighton Challenge Cup STATS: Stalls 7, 8, 9 have shared six of the last eight winners. Team Johnston have won three times (Mark 2, Charlie 1) with young horses.
FORM: Their three-year-old Open Secret is still a maiden but was making all until weakening final furlong, fourth, a grade higher at Goodwood, with the first three rated at least 11lb better than anything in today’s field.
Conditions are much more suitable for Open Secret here; the Cracksman colt is within a pound of the two top-rated on the figures but, as a three-year-old, gets up to 11lb from the higher-weighted older horses, and looks nap material with around 15-10 available in the morning market.
FINANCER FINDS AN OPENING
⭕ 8.00 Chepstow Who’s for a Secret double? After Open Secret at Brighton, Have Secret lines up in the front grid of the market for this 1m 2f handicap, but here, too, is a three-year-old (the only one in the race) lurking in receipt of 19lb.
His name is Financer, only the second runner I can find in recent seasons for Tim Easterby at Chepstow and clearly a shrewd opening in a £26k handicap.
Financer won two at this trip on similar ground when punters were caught napping; they let him start 11-1 at Redcar and 10-1 at Haydock but he’s 5.8 on BETDAQ this morning.
Have Secret hasn’t won since October, 2022; he’s been in the grip of the handicapper since, though twice within a length of success in class-2 races at Newbury and York.
Rathgar is the one among the four-year-olds who can’t be ignored. He won over 1m 6f on heavy, placed twice more with cut in the ground..
Then, would you believe, he showed courage and versatility to score, dropped back to 1m 2f on firm, a plot that fooled Yarmouth racegoers who let him start at 25-1. Today: same trip, but dropped a grade, and clearly a willing horse. BETDAQ 7.6
GORAK BIG BETDAQ VALUE
⭕ 8.30 Chepstow Eve Johnson Houghton, who had a 14-1 winner under Charlie Bishop at the end of July, turned up a 28-1 shot yesterday, apprentice ridden at Brighton.
Before firing her three-year-old Revenue at Friday’s Brighton Bullet, she has both Oisin Murphy and Charlie Bishop bidding for this class-2 handicap at Chepstow tonight.
But it’s a tasty prize – £39k to the winner – and even attracts an Irish challenger, Rahmi. Rahmi will be saddled by Johnny Murtagh, who did me a favour at Goodwood with 7-1 winner Take Heart.
I haven’t even mentioned anything from front of the market yet; that’s how fierce is the competition. Let’s have a look at the form.
Akkadian Thunder has crept up the handicap this year but David O’Meara claimed off him last time, suggesting Billy Loughnane has a tough task on his hands tonight.
Aalto went clear in the Bunbury Cup at the July Meeting at HQ, in receipt of 13lb from Carrytheone who was twice denied a run. Carrytheone represents Royal Ascot form, third in the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
Rahmi hasn’t won a race since 8lb lower last Spring but has been seen running well in top company in the Irish Cambridgeshire and other Premier handicaps.
Streets Of Gold has remained high in the ratings since his Jersey Stakes third at Royal Ascot last season but ran well in there again in the Victoria Cup in May.
Jumby has dropped 11lb below his mark for winning Group 3 at Haydock last June. Poor form this year and blinkers the last day are now removed.
Gorak gets 6lb for a two-lengths defeat by Jumby in that Haydock race, and is 3lb better with Carrytheone on their May photo-finish at Newmarket. He had no chance when that one was third at Ascot, drawn on the wrong side.
Betdaq Betting Exchange 9.3 Rahmi, 14 Gorak
DAQMAN’S BETS
4.00 Brighton (win 20, nap)
BET 12pts win OPEN SECRET
8.00 Chepstow (win 20)
BET 4pts win FINANCER
BET 3pts win RATHGAR
8.30 Chepstow (win-50 bull’s-eye bets)
BET 6pts win RAHMI
BET 3.75pts win GORAK
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