PICK YOUR PERSONAL CHAMPIONS FOR THE JUMPS SEASON: One way of involving yourself in racing is to pick horses to follow. From that list, select your personal champions. That’s the principle behind Fortune Cookies, which launches today for the 2019-20 NH season. It’s the only Daqman tipping discipline which has produced more than 1,000 points in one season on its own account.
NICHOLLS IS BEST: DAQMAN has three bets on Tuesday. Napping a Paul Nicholls trained runner in the feature Best Mate Chase. Nicholls is the leading course trainer by prize money over the last three years with an 8/22 strike-rate over fences.
FORTUNE COOKIES GET AWAY!
FORTUNE COOKIES: Every year at this time, we assemble a string of horses to follow with the intention of creating Fortune Cookies for the new year, 20 horses for the big prizes of the National Hunt season, with a final review at the beginning of March which gives us Cheltenham bankers and a Grand National ante-post bet. Here’s the Heads Up on early targets for the first four:
BRAID BLUE (Gordon Elliott) Cheltenham, October 25
DELTA WORK (Gordon Elliott) Down Royal, November 2
GETAWAY TRUMP (Paul Nicholls) Cheltenham, October 25
KEMBOY (Willie Mullins) Down Royal, November 2
⚠️ HEADS UP: First run back for Getaway Trump after his double in the Scotland and England novices’ hurdle championships at Ayr and Sandown in April will be the 2m novices’ chase on Friday’s Cheltenham card.
Trainer Paul Nicholls diverts his syndicate horse from today’s local Exeter meeting to tackle the Cheltenham fences with experience for March in mind, so highly does he regard the six-year-old. ‘He was improving rapidly in the Spring, says Paul, ‘and could be anything over fences.’
⚠️ HEADS UP: With drier weather forecast, Braid Blue will be an early Cheltenham raider from Ireland. He doesn’t want it soft – his four in a row have all come on good ground – so targets Friday’s Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle for Gordon Elliott before winter sets in.
⚠️ HEADS UP: Delta Work is Gordon Elliott’s Gold Cup horse for 2020. He will attempt a fourth Grade-1 win in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday week, November 2.
As we’ll see in many a jumps contest between now and Cheltenham, Gordon has to face Willie Mullins best, and Kemboy is currently a stone in front of Delta Work on the ratings.
Kemboy also has three Grade-1 wins on the CV, including the Aintree Bowl and the Punchestown Gold Cup. He’s the only Mullins chaser left in the Down Royal race, so the gloves are off.
STONE LOOKS SOLID FOR NICHOLLS
1.40 Yarmouth A competitive start to the Yarmouth card and this six furlongs will seem like a mile for the two-year-olds on the heavy ground.
Plenty of them at the top of the market have limited experience on a testing surface. As always, that doesn’t mean they won’t handle it but do you want to be taking the chance at short odds?
The exception is Order Of St John who handled soft well at Nottingham and now has the visor fitted. I think there’s more to come from this one and the booking of Silvestre De Sousa is an obvious positive. He disappointed on good to firm ground here last time but given the change in going it’s really a case of comparing chalk with cheese.
It was good to see De Sousa back from injury with a 33/1 strike in the opener on Saturday at Ascot on Champions Day.
At 6.2 in the BETDAQ win market I’ll have a WIN 10 stake with an added WIN 10 stake in the place market.
4.10 Exeter (Best Mate Beginners’ Chase) Further evidence the jumps season is cranking up and although it’s just a four runner race – it’s double the sized field we had for this last year !
Paul Nicholls last won this in 2016 with Old Guard and although Getaway Trump misses the race, as mentioned, in favour of Cheltenham, he still has a strong contender this afternoon with Southfield Stone who can make a winning start over fences.
It’s cliche to say it, but he looks the type to do better over fences. I think that’s the case with this six-year-old but let’s not forget he was pretty smart over hurdles – winning the Grade 2 Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle at Kempton in February.
He was then last of six but not disgraced in a Grade 1 Aintree and comes back a fresh horse into this.
His rivals are all in questionable form. Literal Ci pulled up on his chasing debut after a bad blunder and was well beaten on the flat last time out. The Mighty Don is likely to find this too sharp which leaves, by default, Moonlighter as the danger.
8.30 Kempton Northern raider Contrast should land a quick hat-trick here for Mick Easterby. Narrow wins at Yarmouth and Lingfield have meant the handicapper can’t get too carried away but I’ve watched the Lingfield race back again this morning and he had much more in hand than the official neck margin would suggest. Cam Hardie is again in the saddle for the wily trainer.
DAQMAN’S BETS (all bets including place staked to win 10 points)
BET 1.9pts win and 6.6pts place ORDER OF ST JOHN (1.40 Yarmouth)
BET 11.0pts win (nap) SOUTHFIELD STONE (4.10 Exeter)
BET 5.2pts win CONTRAST (8.30 Kempton)
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