GOLD BANKER: Jumps stars return in two Graded chases today with a Gold Banker nap from Daqman at Punchestown this afternoon.
SOFT TOUCHES? First, with showers forecast, he picks out some of the soft-ground horses for Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday.
MULTIPLES TREBLE: Tonight at Chelmsford he’s loaded his wallet for a hot favourite by Zebedee. Don’t miss his Daq Multiples. Boing!
DARE YOU BACK A FAVOURITE ON SATURDAY?
Where are the soft touches? Showers forecast on top of good-to-soft terrain for both today and tomorrow could dampen Champions Day on Saturday, and bring soft going for the fourth year in succession.
In that time, only one outright favourite has won, unless you include Frankel, who was a law unto himself. It’s a big worry for punters.
In the Champion Sprint, there is the threat that both Muhaarar and Twilight Son will have their speed blunted by the cut in the ground.
In the Mares and Fillies, the rain is a big help to French raider Candarliya, who won when it was bottomless at Deauville in August.
Solow has also won on very soft ground in France and could be left high and dry at the front of the Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes market, with Gleneagles likely to be rerouted to a racecourse gallop before the Breeders Cup.
Yet another Frenchman, Vadamos, glowingly described by Andre Fabre, could be value against Jack Hobbs in the Champion Stakes. Jack has never raced on turf with the word ‘soft’ in the going return.
SIZING UP THE JUMPS GAME AT PUNCHESTOWN..
3.55 Punchestown. The jumpers are back big time, or at least Gordon Elliott’s are, with five of his dominating the Graded chases at Punchestown today.
But the first of them is a novice chase, in which his six-year-old, The Game Changer, has to give weight all round.
That includes the gift of 16lb to Miss Dinamic, also trained by Elliott, who has the services of Bryan Cooper and Ruby Walsh in their saddles.
Henry De Bromhead, who’s had two winners of this back to back (2009-10) among the sequence of hot favourites that have won this race, splits the pair in the market with Sizing Platinum.
He wants revenge on The Game Changer over two furlongs further for Sizing Platinum’s two-and-a-half lengths defeat at Roscommon (2m) in September.
The Game Changer has proved his versatility by winning over 2m 4f at Tipperary on the last day. In fact, both have raced over 2m 2f recently, and against the same horse.
Sizing Platinum (3.8 on BETDAQ this morning) beat Rock The World just short of four lengths at Galway (level weights, good) in July, while The Game Changer went down two lengths to Rock The World on the same course in September, giving 7lb., also on good ground.
That puts them neck and neck, which suggests that Sizing Platinum will have the edge at the weights this afternoon.
DON MUST HAVE STEPPING STONE TO CHELTENHAM
4.30 Punchestown Don Cossack is hoping to repeat last year’s win in this race against the horse that won it back to back in 2011-12, stablemate Roi Du Mee.
But Roi Du Mee is 10 now and has been second then last of four in the two most recent renewals.
In fact, this could be a stable gallop for the Don, with Bright New Dawn – first outing for Elliott – making up three out of five in this field for the same yard.
Cailin Anamh is an improver but will be a rare girl, indeed, if she can bridge a 21lb gap in the ratings with the favourite under today’s conditions.
Don Cossack’s six wins out of seven – Cheltenham his only bogey – has seen his rating soar to 175, after taking Grade-1 championship races at Punchestown and Aintree in the Spring.
Don Cossack won this comfortably last year and connections could coast him through to the New Year, in which case the John Durkan back at Punchestown would no doubt be on their agenda.
But, if I were plotting his campaign, I would be looking to one of the two big Cheltenham meetings – the Open (13-15 November) and the International (11-12 December) – to try to lay the bogey there (Don Cossack’s Prestbury Park form so far F3) so that the festival can be a confident part of his schedule.
I doubt if he would meet his principal Gold Cup rival there until March: Coneygree is going for the Hennessy. As for Silviniaco Conti, his Cheltenham form (3F40) suggests that hat-trick attempts in the King George and the Aintree Bowl are more likely targets.
FORGIVING BET IN GREYS DOUBLE AT CHELMSFORD
7.45 Chelmsford Paul d’Arcy’s Zebedee grey, a short-priced favourite in this one, has looked Spring Loaded this autumn.
He looks hotter than ever, since the horse he hammered there last time, Strategic Force, is second favourite, little else fancied.
8.15 Chelmsford Another grey, Alan King’s Forgiving Glance, should benefit from this step up in trip and would be an ironic winner for me. It was King’s Grumeti who edged out my 23.0 Cesarewitch punt on Oriental Fox.
DAQMAN’S BETS (stakes as recommended)
GOLD BANKER: BET 30pts win (SP nap) DON COSSACK (4.30 Punchestown)
BET 7pts (to win 20 at morning offer) SIZING PLATINUM (3.55 Punchestown)
BET 6pts win FORGIVING GLANCE (8.15 Chelmsford)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 5pts win double DON COSSACK (4.30 Punchestown) and SPRING LOADED (7.45 Chelmsford), plus 1pt win treble the same two with SIZING PLATINUM (3.55 Punchestown)
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