JUST A MINUTE! DAQMAN REVENGE AT THE DOUBLE: Daqman’s nap, Bryn Du (3rd 11-8), was bumped out of his stride at a vital stage at Kempton last night but our man hit back twice to make it two out of three in consecutive races, again gambled on from better odds on BETDAQ earlier in the day.
WON 13-8 PIECE OF HISTORY
WON 11-8 SOLDIER’S MINUTE
17 IN FLOODLIT TAPETA VERSION OF THE FUTURITY: Daqman is building up for the Jumps, increasing his Fortune Cookies probables to eight. Meanwhile, on the Flat, the Doncaster Futurity has been reopened for a floodlit Newcastle on Tapeta on Friday evening, not so heavy on Aidan O’Brien runners now but with Wichita added to his contingent, which is led by Mogul. There are 17 entries.
GREAT EIGHT FORTUNE COOKIES
⚠️ HEADS UP! Every season Daqman assembles horses to follow for the Jumps, intended to form the backbone of his Fortune Cookies in the new year. He is gradually building up the list as follows:
AYE RIGHT (Harriet Graham) steady rise this year from class-4 novice off 122 to class-2 winner last month, which upped him to 141.
This tough guy is bred to stay forever (by Yeats out of a Presenting mare) and has form figures this year of 122411.
BATTLEOVERDOYEN (Gordon Elliott) really impressed over fences at Galway; very professional and, as forecast in his Grade-1 winning novice-hurdle career, which was always a bonus, he could go to the top.
BRAID BLUE (Gordon Elliott, 2nd so far) 3m winner twice on summer ground, stayed on well after 2m 5f at Cheltenham on Friday.
DELTA WORK (Gordon Elliott) don’t miss him in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday.
FLORESSA (Nicky Henderson), second in a bumper race of winners in the Spring, won her maiden hurdle hard held at Worcester. It was more the manner of her 19-lengths victory than the winning distance.
FRODON (Paul Nicholls) They took the fences away because of the conditions and that cost him a role in the finish of the Old Roan at Aintree on Sunday. This superb jumper will be firing soon.
GETAWAY TRUMP (Paul Nicholls, 3rd so far) needed the run behind Al Dancer at Cheltenham on Friday and now goes for the Arkle Trial, back at Cheltenham next month.
VINNDICATION (Kim Bailey) by Vinnie Roe, with an Irsh National winner on the dam’s side; despite six wins in a row and third in the Scilly Isles Chase, the in-form trainer has always said ‘Vinny’ would be better over 3m. So Saturday’s autumn gold cup at Ascot should be ideal.
Deleted: Kemboy (Willie Mullins), until registration problems are sorted.
KEEPING THE SPIRIT UP
12.30 Catterick Mighty Spirit might, at first glance, appear to be one to be wary of given she is 0-8 with form figures of 2623252 but strip out all the good and good to firm runs and it becomes 263.
Delve even deeper and you quickly realise her form is way superior to her rivals here and even allowing for the fact she was a beaten odds-on favourite last time out at Musselburgh (good to firm) that form might as well be thrown away given it’s heavy at the North Yorkshire venue today.
Her BHA Rating of 91 should surely prove good enough to win this, particularly if she can reproduce anything like her Newbury third to Bettys Hope in a class 2 – which encouragingly came on good to soft ground.
The Bell Conductor looks best of the rest and is entitled to improve further on only his third start – I was just slightly concerned though that he appeared to struggle to get home at York last time out on soft ground and even though Catterick is a fast five furlongs, the more testing ground today will make it even a more of a test of stamina for the Phillip Makin trained runner.
Locally trained Rapid Russo sprung a 20/1 shock when winning over course and distance in August when it was soft. That was a good effort but he had his limitations exposed with a poor run in a much more competitive nursery at Ayr last time out and he will need to run better today.
1.15 Chepstow It can only be a very tentative selection given it’s the trickiest race of the day – a 16 runner handicap hurdle which kicks off Chepstow’s card.
With that caveat in place I still think Eva’s Oskar will make a bold bit for his hat-trick.
The handicapper hasn’t been too harsh putting him up just 3lb for a battling performance at Warwick last time out (2m 5f good) where he ran as though the extra test of stamina today (3m, good to soft) would suit. He ran one of his best race at Newbury on good to soft ground when second to Ey Up Rocky in March and might be hard to keep out of the frame, four places of course on BETDAQ for this heat.
5.45 Southwell A dilemma for me here. As regular readers will know, I like a horse that’s proven on the unique Southwell surface. With Grazeon Roy – he has tried the surface – it was on debut in April where he was 5th of 12 – good enough until you factor in that he was beaten 23 lengths in a race where they finished with National Hunt gaps.
He was a 66/1 chance that day and has made such good progress since that I’m willing to chance him back on the surface. He comes into this on the back of a huge run at Doncaster last week when he finished a close second to favourite Gamestars Icon and the pair pulled 13 lengths clear in a 19 runner field !!
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 10 points)
BET 8.2pts win (nap) MIGHTY SPIRIT (12.30 Catterick)
BET 1.7pts win and 6.9pts place (both WIN 10) EVA’S OSKAR (1.15 Chepstow)
BET 6.0pts win GRAZEON ROY (5.45 Southwell)
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