DAQMAN AIMS FOR THE BULL’S EYE AT BOTH BIG MEETINGS: Goodwood opens today, matching Galway tonight with seven races each, in a feast of sport which gets straight down to big business with the Goodwood Cup. The questions Daqman must answer: Can Stradivarius hold on to his stayers’ title? Can you name two viable outsiders, one at each meeting? Daqman replies with win-50 bull’s-eye bets:
HEADLINES IN ADVANCE
🔹 HE’S A MARKED MAN FOR GOODWOOD
🔹 NOTHING VENTURA NOTHING GAINED
🔹 RELY ON FRANKIE’S VINTAGE VISION
🔹 ZAAKI TO BREAK THE LENNOX DUCK
🔹 EXPECTING A CUP COUNTER PUNCH
🔹 GAVIN’S DARK HORSE IS BIG AT 28.0
DAQMAN’S CURRENT RECORDS
Daqman 52 Pricewise 25 (Daqman 385 points clear to 10pt stakes)
Bull’s-eye naps (6-12) 264 points up to recommended stakes
Supernaps (16-22) 118 points up to 20pt stakes
HE’S A MARKED MAN FOR GOODWOOD
⚠️ HEADS UP: Mark Johnston, who has nine runners at Goodwood today and 12 tomorrow, needs two winners in the two days for a trainers’ record of 50 in a month. He’s put together 48 this July, after Makyon at Ayr yesterday.
Goodwood is usually a picnic for the Yorkshire-based Scot, with 35 winners in the decade, including 12 in races scheduled for today and tomorrow, as follows:
Tuesday (6): 1.50 four winners; 2.25 one; 4.10 one.
Wednesday (6): 1.50 two; 2.25 three; 3.00 one.
Thursday (10): 1.50 four; 2.25 one; 3.00 one; 4.10 two; 4.45 one; 5.20 one.
Friday (4): 3.00 three; 5.15 one.
Saturday (9): 2.25 two; 3.00 one; 4.15 two; 4.50 three; 5.25 one.
NOTHING VENTURA NOTHING GAINED
1.50 Goodwood: Only a rails run by Pivoine taking advantage of a good draw – forecast in this column – prevented Setting Sail from winning the John Smith’s at York from the widest stall in the line-up.
Setting Sail likes to lead and run right-handed, so Goodwood, where he won his maiden over CD, is clear water for him today from gate 7, just 4lb higher for that length defeat.
Beringer won right-handed at both Sandown and Leicester at this time last year. The Lincoln Handicap third was returning to today’s winning trip when short-headed at Sandown by Jazeel, beaten on the nod.
But both have a lot to do here against that John Smith’s form, when Pivoine and Setting Sail finished five lengths or so up on Jazeel.
Johnny Drama is a bit of a dark horse but I prefer Mark Johnston’s well-drawn Ventura Knight, 2-2 in handicap company in July 2017 and 2-2 again last year at the same time. Still on the right side of the handicapper and Ryan Moore booked for this return to 1m 2f.
Stablemate Aquarium, who won from the one stall at Chester, is drawn out wide today, and in any case is a slow starter, so I took 19.5 Ventura Knight to add to my 5.7 Setting Sail on BETDAQ.
RELY ON FRANKIE’S VINTAGE VISION
2.25 Goodwood (Vintage Stakes): A Group-2 penalty has Mystery Power giving 3lb to Pinatubo, which kept Van Beethoven, Boynton and Birchwood out of the frame altogether in this race.
The last successful attempt to carry the extra burden was by the Hannons’ champion Olympic Glory but he had also been placed at Royal Ascot.
Pinatubo won the Chesham at the royal meeting. That’s only a Listed but he earlier scored at Epsom which was excellent experience for the undulations of Goodwood.
Frankie Dettori’s mount, Visinari, was third in the July Stakes (6f) to Royal Lytham, who is only about a length behind Pinatubo on collateral form, and Visinari should relish the extra trip and weight concession today.
Mark Johnston stepped up Dark Vision an extra furlong to take this last year, just as he does Visinari now. I took a bit of 4.2 for value against Pinatubo’s 2.48, with Mystery Power far too easy to back, out to 10.2.
ZAAKI TO BREAK THE LENNOX DUCK
3.00 Goodwood (Lennox Stakes): David Elsworth (56 losers in 105 days) was rated badly out of form – high on the dreaded cold list – until Ripp Orf ran into the money, fourth in a huge field for the International Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
How much is that a turning point that boosts the chances of a Lennox repeat today by Sir Dancealot? Can he again dispose of Suedois (only a short-head behind last year but Dancealot did not have a clear run), 2017 winner Breton Rock (a further neck behind a year ago but now nine years old) and Donjuan Triumphant (another neck back from a wide draw, which is again his misfortune as one who likes to lead).
The snag with Sir Dancealot, even if he’s cherry ripe, is that he is a hold-up horse and may not take advantage of stall 2 on the rail. It might be a hindrance, in fact, as was gate 4 last year, albeit Gerald Mosse managed to get through.
Had it been Goodwood and not the Curragh, Hey Gaman (lost a shoe) may have held off Romanised in the Minstrel Stakes 10 days ago, and Frankie Dettori will want to redeem the ride here.
Zaaki has always raced over further in his nine starts for Sir Michael Stoute.
He was just run out of it in the Summer Mile at Ascot 17 days back, with Suedois third at a length and a half. That puts him in front of the Sir Dancealot mob of last year’s blanket finish.
This is Speak In Colours first attempt at the trip and Space Traveller is a member of a moderate generation of this year’s three year olds.
This looks like a humdinger of a finish between Hey Gaman and Zaaki, who was supplemented to break Sir Michael Stoute’s duck in this race.
The pair are separated in the ratings by a pound and in the BETDAQ market by 0.1. Ryan Moore (Zaaki, offered 4.4.) must not allow Frankie Dettori (Hey Gaman) to get away from him.
EXPECTING A CUP COUNTER PUNCH
3.35 Goodwood Cup Stradivarius goes for the hat-trick in this, after seven wins in a row, facing a renewed challenge from Cross Counter and Dee Ex Bee.
He had them both cooked at 2m 4f on the soft in the Gold Cup at Ascot but Dee Ex Bee has returned to the ratings level of his Derby second, was himself on a hat-trick had he beaten Stradivarius for gold, and might do better dropped back to 2m.
This is Cross Counter’s time and his track. He produced a career best in the Gordon Stakes, breaking the course record, at this meeting a year ago, easily beating Dee Ex Bee, before going on to glory in the Melbourne Cup.
Dee Ex Bee finished in front of him in the Gold Cup but Cross Counter (4.2 this morning) sweated up that day and never really got into contention.
Dashing Willoughby doesn’t look to have the class for the task and, with South Pacific, Aidan O’Brien is feeling his way hoping something – anything! – can redeem the three-year-olds form before the big autumn races.
GAVIN’S DARK HORSE IS BIG AT 28.0
7.40 Galway (Mile) This is where I came in, talking about Mark Johnston. His four-year-old, Irish-owned Rufus King, is a rare raider but also a rare winner (1-21 since ‘he’ was gelded).
The money this morning was for Numerian and more obviously for Aidan O’Brien’s Turnberry Isle, but that one is drawn 18, from which success would be another rare event, albeit Riven Light rubbished the bias when winning from that stall last year, mainly down to another great ride from Seamie Heffernan.
Numerian is nicely installed in gate 4 and his fifth in the Britannia bodes well for today. Though three-year-olds have failed to get on the score sheet, they were second and third a year ago, with the race at their mercy until Riven Light burst through.
Onlyhuman is now 20lb higher than when narrowly beaten here at Galway in the autumn, and has no chance with Magnetic North on Navan form in June.
But, strictly, Magnetic North can’t beat Gavin Cromwell’s Innamorare, who was a neck behind at Leopardstown and is better off at the weights today. The draw brings them together but Innamorare is surely the ‘hidden horse’, as winner of five out of eight from June onwards last season, and the filly looks big at 28.0 on BETDAQ this morning. Numerian touched 5.8.
DAQMAN’S BETS
1.50 Goodwood (bull’s-eye bets to win 50, place 10)
BET 10pts win SETTING SAIL
BET 2.75pts win, 3pts place VENTURA KNIGHT
2.25 Goodwood (win 20)
BET 6.25pts win VISINARI
3.00 Goodwood (win 20)
BET 5.75pts win (nap) ZAAKI
3.35 Goodwood (win 20)
BET 6.25pts win CROSS COUNTER
7.40 Galway (bull’s-eye bets to win 50, place 10)
BET 10pts win NUMERIAN
BET 1.85pts win, 3.25pts place INNAMORARE
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
