MORE BIG BETDAQ VALUE AS 12.5 OFFER WINS AT 5-1: For the second time in three days, Daqman’s winning tips pointed up superb value in the BETDAQ market. Following Saturday’s Ebor hit, Muntahaa (WON 11.0 from 28.0 on BETDAQ), his opening Epsom selection yesterday was Carlton Frankie (WON 5-1 from 12.5 on BETDAQ)
RAMPANT GOSDEN CAN’T BE BEATEN
The fat lady is redundant. No need to wait for her singing out the season in either jockeys’ or trainers’ official tables.
John Gosden is home and hosed already after the £1m bonus secured by the Stradivarius Cups four-timer, the icing on a four-tiered Knavesmire cake of Lah Ti Dar, Muntahaa, Roaring Lion, and Stradivarius.
Here are the latest prizemoney totals for the top five stables alongside their pre-York tally, when only about half a million separated them.
£5.1m from £3.8m John Gosden York win earnings by Lah Ti Dar, Muntahaa, Roaring Lion, and Stradivarius.
£3.7m from £3.5m Aidan O’Brien Fairyland
£3.6m from £3.3 Sir Michael Stoute Expert Eye
£3.4m from £3.2 Charlie Appleby Ghostwatch, Old Persian
£3.4m from £3.3m Mark Johnston Poet’s Society
In fact, the trainers’ table covers the entire year but, though the minor placings are still up for grabs as the big five get closer to £20m won, prizemoney in the final stages show that even the super-rich British Champions Day at Ascot will not be enough to bridge the Gosden gap.
No other stable string has the depth and capacity among its young warriors, and it is due to welcome back the two stars, Enable and Cracksman, who lifted it to the top in the 2017 campaign.
Your champion jockey numerically is Silvestre De Sousa if you count turf only from May 5, as it is officially. The fat lady is similarly muted by his long lead.
But for the entire year, turf and AW, Oisin Murphy has a narrow lead with three other ton-up riders close enough to exert some late pressure.
Here are the totals for the year, with the turf-only title race tally (in brackets) turning into the home straight, with October 20 the final day:
140 Oisin Murphy (turf only 72) top trainer Andrew Balding
135 Silvestre De Sousa (turf only 107) top trainer Mark Johnston
107 James Doyle (turf only 74) top trainer William Haggas
105 Luke Morris (turf only 56) top trainer Sir Mark Prescott
102 Joe Fanning (turf only 59) top trainer Mark Johnston
FROSTY NO SLOW MAN
3.15 Epsom: The ground remains on the easy side at Epsom which is likely to see the runners come up stands side as per yesterday.
Rossa Ryan is riding with bags of confidence at the moment (10 winners from his last 31 runners) and might be able to persuade the hitherto reluctant Desert Frost to stick his head out in front.
The four-year-old made a winning debut at Doncaster but since then has built up a string of placed efforts but has only gone down by a neck and half a length in his last two races.
However, the ground is a concern as he ran his worse race to date on good to soft ground at Newmarket – although in mitigation it was a Listed contest and Epsom has had drying weather today.
In a race where his overall form stands out and his rivals are largely out of form he is very hard to get away from.
5.05 Ripon: Fitzwilly is a ‘hidden horse’ in that he has spent a lot of time on AW but never won on a man-made surface, which modifies his form figures considerably. He has a better than 50% strike rate, win and place, on turf.
Fitzwilly won this race last year off the same mark as today but has a 7lb claimer to do the steering this time, as opposed to last year’s 5lb boy.
Can he still do it at the age of eight? Well, he’s in a 7lb worse contest. His 66 rating a year ago was worth 9st 10lb but this time around takes him up to 10st 3lb, revealing the poverty of the opposition. His 9st 10lb of last year is reached today by Up Ten Down Two off a lowly 59. The morning favourite, Urban Spirit, is a maiden (0-17), with Fitzwilly next in at 3.7 on BETDAQ.
6.50 Chelmsford An intriguing fillies novice event in which there are question marks over a couple at the top of the market.
Lush Life hasn’t been seen since making a winning debut at Kempton (when 16/1) 293 days ago.
The John Gosden trained Dolcissimo brings the most experience but is proving hard to win with and might be vulnerable. She has placed form in handicaps but the interesting one here could be Nomoathaj who made a pleasing debut at Kempton.
The William Haggas trained runner was pretty clueless at the start and gave ground away but was noted getting into the race towards the end and will be suited by the step up in trip.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points)
BET 12.25pts win (nap) DESERT FROST (3.15 Epsom)
BET 7.5pts win FITZWILLY (5.05 Ripon)
BET 4.2pts win NOMOATHAJ (6.50 Chelmsford)
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