DASHING DAQMAN LANDS 14.0 BETDAQ GAMBLE AT ROYAL ASCOT: Daqman stepped in on BETDAQ offers of 14.0 before one of the season’s biggest gambles was landed at Royal Ascot yesterday with Dashing Willoughby (WON 6-1) in the marathon Queen’s Vase, giving him a 50-point bull’s-eye nap. That took this special bet to 171 points profit.
32-16 UP ON PRICEWISE BEFORE HUNT CUP NOSE DEFEAT AT 16-1: Daqman followed up immediately with the Prince Of Wales winner to take him 190 points clear of Pricewise, with double his returns for the season at 32-16. Daqman was beaten a neck in the fillies’ race with Rawdaa (2nd 4-1) and a nose in the Royal Hunt Cup. His best placings in the first five races were: 21122.
WON 6-1 DASHING WILLOUGHBY (bull’s-eye nap at 14.0 BETDAQ)
WON 3-1 CRYSTAL OCEAN (Prince Of Wales’s Stakes)
2ND 16-1 Clon Coulis and 3rd 8-1 Raising Sand (Royal Hunt Cup)
STANDINGS UPDATE:
➡️ Daqman 32, Pricewise 16 (190 points clear)
➡️ Naps: 4 winners out of five (165 points up)
➡️ Supernaps: 12 out of 13 (170 points profit)
➡️ Bull’s-eye naps: 4 winners from seven (plus 171)
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
🔹 SUNDAY SEEMS A THURSDAY WINNER
🔹 FOX IN THE HUNT FOR IN-FORM YARD
🔹 MOTIVATED TO GO NAP ON FLEETING
🔹 STRADIVARIUS PULLS THE STRINGS
🔹 THIS IS NOT TOO HOT FOR TURGENEV
SUNDAY SEEMS A THURSDAY WINNER
FIRST TWO DAYS: trainers Aidan O’Brien (3), William Haggas (2), Charlie Appleby, Andrew Balding, Charles Hills, Mark Johnston, David O’Meara, Sir Michael Stoute, Ian Williams; jockeys Ryan Moore (3), Daniel Tudhope (3), Frankie Dettori (2), Jim Crowley, James Doyle, Richard Kingscote, Oisin Murphy. DRAW: winners by stall 1, 3, 1, 1, 18, 12, 25, 6, 6, 11, 21, 24.
2.30 Royal Ascot (Norfolk Stakes) Leading trainers (this race only): Aidan O’Brien 3, William Haggas 2, Wesley Ward 2. Jockeys: Frankie Dettori 2, Ryan Moore 2.
Age: 2yo. Favourites: 0%. DRAW: stalls 7 to 12 seven out of 10.
Paddy Twomey, the trainer nobody knows but everybody in racing knows (from his career in breeding and sales), based at Golden, Tipperary, has a huge form chance in this with Sunday Sovereign, who ran up to Coventry hero, Arizona, at the Curragh in May.
Golden’s Sovereign was then pushed seven lengths clear of a previous winner at Naas, despite giving weight, on his home track at Tipperary.
He’s by Equiano, who twice won the King’s Stand Stakes here at this royal meeting, and he’s done his winning on soft surfaces.
There was also ease in the ground when Expressionist scored here at Ascot on the debut without being asked a question.
Wesley Ward, who has twice won the Norfolk, only just missed out on the Queen Mary yesterday, when Kimari was beaten a head. Maven bids to gain compensation, with endorsement from the trainer.
Air Force Jet, who had been short-headed on the debut by the distant runner-up to Sunday Sovereign at Naas, got up to win at Navan on the first of this month from Southern Hills, yesterday’s Windsor Castle winner.
Mount Fuji represents the Southern Hills stable but, as with Air Force Jet, there’s a worry about the ground. A’Ali would be the first maiden to win in 30 years and, though Real Appeal has scored at Listed level in France, his breeding hardly befits a Royal Ascot winner.
VERDICT: The Sunday Sovereign form seems cast iron but collateral assessment at this stage does not allow for improvement in the others. Maven, by US Triple Crown star American Pharoah, was big at 15.0 this morning; Expressionist 13.0. 1 Sunday Sovereign, 2 Maven, 3 Expressionist
FOX IN THE HUNT FOR IN-FORM YARD
3.05 Royal Ascot (Hampton Court Stakes) Leading trainers: Aidan O’Brien 3, John Gosden 2, Sir Michael Stoute 2. Jockeys: Ryan Moore 3, Frankie Dettori 2.
Age: 3yo. Favourites: 30%. DRAW: stalls 7 to 12 six out of nine.
Top rated are Cape Of Good Hope and Great Scot off 110, but the Kingman colt, by a Galileo mare, Fox Chairman (no official rating) can’t be far off that after Circus Maximus won the St James’s Palace Stakes. Fox Chairman was hampered when third to that one in the Dee Stakes at Chester. Might have won or gone close.
Andrew Balding has saved him for this, just as he saved Dashing Willoughby for yesterday’s triumph in the Queen’s Vase. King Ottokar, who runs in this, beat Dashing Willoughby on the soft at Newbury.
Roseman and Sangarius had their Sandown form boosted – second and third to King Of Comedy – when Comedy lost the St James’s Palace Stakes by only a neck. Cape Of Good Hope (fourth) and Kick On were badly drawn in the French Derby.
My man in the long grass tells me not to desert Sangarius, who has taken time to come to himself and won’t mind the ground.
VERDICT: We haven’t seen the best of Fox Chairman (5.3) and Sangarius (8.0) but it looks a very open contest. Note that the draw for Aidan O’Brien’s pair, Cape Of Good Hope (in the one stall) and Old Glory (15), puts both at a disadvantage. 1 Fox Chairman, 2 Sangarius, 3 King Ottokar
MOTIVATED TO GO NAP ON FLEETING
3.40 Royal Ascot (Ribblesdale Stakes) Leading trainers: Aidan O’Brien 3, John Gosden 2. Jockeys: Frankie Dettori 6, Ryan Moore 3.
Age: 3yo. Favourites: 20%. DRAW: Eight of the last nine winners came from stalls 1 to 6, five of those out of 1, 2 or 3.
Some of the better winners of the Ribblesdale won off 103, 104 and 105 in the last six years, which suggests strong claims for a 1-2-3 of the Epsom Oaks third, Fleeting (110), Frankellina (sixth at Epsom) on 105, and (tenth) Peach Tree 102.
Out to spoil the Epsom rerun is Queen Power (rated only 100), who skipped the Oaks but won the Fillies’ Trial at Newbury. The one she beat a neck that day? Lavender’s Blue, who afterwards finished stone last of 14 at Epsom (led early).
There are also worries about the trip for Queen Power but that’s to discount the amazing skill with fillies of her trainer, Sir Michael Stoute.
John Gosden, narrowly beaten this week with King Of Comedy and Too Darn Hot, has four runners in this, with Frankie Dettori on Star Catcher, who was only half a length off Queen Power at Newbury. The form of Fanny Logan’s third in the Cheshire Oaks has been let down.
VERDICT: If Fleeting (around 2.5) takes after her dam’s sire, Motivator, she should love today’s ground. Her Oaks third has her 10lb in front of Queen Power, and there are mixed messages about that one’s form: 1 Fleeting, 2 Queen Power, 3 Star Catcher.
STRADIVARIUS PULLS THE STRINGS
4.20 Royal Ascot (Gold Cup) Leading trainers: Aidan O’Brien 7, Mark Johnston 3. Jockeys: Frankie Dettori 6, Ryan Moore 2.
Age: 4yo six out of seven. Favourites: 50%. DRAW: stalls 1 to 7 seven out of 10.
Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter, the 2018 Derby runner-up Dee Ex Bee, and Irish St Leger winner Flag Of Honour make formidable opponents for last year’s gold star, Stradivarius, who is rated 120 to Cross Counter’s 118.
Old Thomas Hobson had a stop-start race, twice impeded, when only a length and a half behind Stradivarius for the British Champions Long Distance Cup (Flag Of Honour fourth) on soft last backend, and it was courage that won him last year’s Gold Cup against Vazirabad who doesn’t like a fight and, in fact, was running the last race of his career.
But there is no guarantee that Cross Counter will get the extreme distance and his defeat of Marmelo in the Melbourne Cup was in receipt of 9lb., putting him about 5lb behind Stradivarius on collateral form.
VERDICT: I have 20 points on Stradivarius, with the Fortune Cookies ahead of the game now, thanks to Dashing Willoughby, and Derby runner-up Dee Ex Bee would win the same amount for five points on BETDAQ this morning. I have a feeling he will enjoy the marathon trip.
THIS IS NOT TOO HOT FOR TURGENEV
5.00 Royal Ascot (Britannia Handicap) Leading trainers: John Gosden 4. Jockeys: Jamie Spencer 3, Ryan Moore 2. Age: 3yo. Favourites: 10%. Weight: 8st 9lb to 8st 13lb seven out of 10.
John Gosden’s Turgenev made a lot of the running in successive trials over 1m 2f (including pacemaking for Too Darn Hot) and could come into his own here back at a mile and racing in his own right.
Migration was beaten four lengths by Fox Chairman in April so needs a good run from that one in an earlier race. Hero Hero won as he pleased at Chester and appears to act on any ground but running freely here might be his undoing.
Davydenko has been a work in progress with the maestro Michael Stoute. The son of a French Derby winner is out of a Pivotal mare so rain might be no problem. King Ademar wouldn’t want it.
VERDICT: A very tempting BETDAQ as I write: 11.0 Davydenko and 15.5 Turgenev, thankyou very much.
DAQMAN’S BETS
2.30 Ascot (bull’s-eye win-50 bets, and win 20)
BET 4pts win EXPRESSIONIST
BET 3.5pts win MAVEN
BET 10pts win SUNDAY SOVEREIGN
3.05 Ascot (win 30)
BET 7pts win FOX CHAIRMAN
BET 4.25pts win SANGARIUS
3.40 Royal Ascot (supernap)
BET 20pts win FLEETING
4.20 Royal Ascot (win 30)
BET 5pts win DEE EX BEE
5.00 Royal Ascot (win 50 bull’s-eye bets)
BET 5pts win DAVYDENKO
BET 3.25pts win TURGENEV
5.35 Royal Ascot (win 30)
BET 6.5pts win SIR RON PRIESTLEY
FORTUNE COOKIES
(20pt stakes)
STRADIVARIUS 4.20 Royal Ascot
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