HEADLINE ABOUT 8-1 WINNER WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE RACE: Magical things happen when Daqman is let loose on a quality card. He named three horses only, each in separate races at The Curragh yesterday. All three won including the outsider in his headline ‘Shelir In Fifth Tetrarch For Weld’. Today you could report the race result using the same headline, after the smooth success of Shelir (WON 8-1). His three winners out of three included an 11-4 nap:
WON 8-1 SHELIR
WON 11-4 HAPPEN (nap)
WON 2-9 MAGICAL
1,000-TARGET FORTUNE COOKIES’ FIVE-STAR START AT CHESTER: Today sees the launch of Fortune Cookies horses to follow which takes over from the Early Birds. Advance entry dates are given weekly for the list of 20, which are scheduled to have five runners at Chester this week.
FORTUNE COOKIES 20 TO FOLLOW
We want another 1,000 points profit. That’s the target – achieved last season – for the 2019 Fortune Cookies, starting from scratch at Chester tomorrow.
Early Birds horses to follow were rescued by Hermosa (WON 14-1), Auxerre (WON 5-2) and Wissahickon (two odds-on wins), so that we secured the Lincoln Handicap and Winter Derby and finished with a 280-point hit in the 1,000 Guineas.
Now comes the job of compiling Fortune Cookies from Chester onwards as the trials build up to the Derby and Oaks. The rules are simple: if they lose, they’re out; if they win or place, they must do so well enough to warrant following again afterwards.
We usually have a rethink after Epsom and before Royal Ascot, unless we find another Enable. She stayed in the list and won us the Arc!
Almania (Sir Michael Stoute) Dee Stakes, Chester, Thursday
A Momentofmadness (Charles Hills) Chester, Thursday
Calyx (John Gosden) Commonwealth Cup, Royal Ascot
Dashing Willoughby (Andrew Balding) Chester, Wednesday
Dubai Warrior (John Gosden) Dante Stakes, York, May 16
Elector (Sir Michael Stoute), Royal Hunt Cup
Enable (John Gosden) Coronation Cup, Epsom May 31
Global Prospector (Clive Cox) Target race not specified.
Hermosa (Aidan O’Brien) Epsom Oaks, May 31
Joyful Mission (Sir Michael Stoute) A winner in waiting.
Kew Gardens (Aidan O’Brien) Ormonde Stakes, Chester, Thursday
Kick On (John Gosden) His target was the French Derby after all
Mabs Cross (Michael Dods) She won the Palace House Stakes and the Abbaye six months apart, and has started on the same path this year.
Mustashry (Sir Michael Stoute) Chester, Friday
Ripp Orf (David Elsworth) Spring Cup was seasonal launchpad to the Victoria Cup
Sangarius (Sir Michael Stoute) Irish 2,000 Guineas
Qabala (Roger Varian) Guineas third, improves from race to race
Solage (Jim Bolger) Blue Wind Stakes at Naas on Saturday.
Too Darn Hot (John Gosden) Irish 2,000 Guineas, May 25
Wissahickon (John Gosden) Has a won a Cambridgeshire and a Winter Derby for us.
I’M WAITING FOR SUPER FRANZ
2.20 Wetherby What was all that hullabaloo about the end of the jumps season a few weeks back? It’s like it’s never gone away with ‘new’ season jumping from Ayr, Fakenham, Exeter and Ballinrobe on Tuesday.
At least Wetherby is on the flat. And that’s a strange enough sentence in itself for slightly older readers.
What price our friend Mr John ‘Godsend’ wins the first three races on the card at the North Yorkshire venue? A quick tap into the DAQ MULTIPLES calculator answers the question. £1 buys you £13.47 at the time of writing.
Gold Stick (owned by The Queen) bids to kick start that treble in the opener but can’t really be a bet for me. Although the Dubawi colt was fifth on debut at Newbury when very green and was beaten a ‘National Hunt’ distance of 19 lengths and only staying on through beaten horses at the end.
He’s up in trip and on second start should know more about the game but the presence of the Roger Charlton trained debutant Stone Mason tempers enthusiasm.
On the plus side: two of the bigger dangers Classic Design (Crisford) and Gosden’s other intended runner Swift Wing are both non runners.
We can pass on this one and wait for the next race, after all, as I’ve said before, it’s not the winners you miss that count, it’s the winners you back!
In the 2.20 Gosden’s Franz Kafka looks a safer proposition. I’m not worried about his two recent seconds – both have been narrow defats and he has gone down fighting in much better class races than this.
His Doncaster second to Fox Champion looks very solid after the winner went on to win a decent race at Newmarket.
2.50 Wetherby Gosden relies on Duneflower here but after a promising second at Newmarket last season she was far from impressive at Newcastle when landing odds of 2/9 by a nose !! Just how you like your long odds-on shots to win – not !!
I prefer the potential of Be More who wasn’t given a hard race on debut at Newmarket but stayed on nicely into fourth and the Andrew Balding stable remain in good form.
8.20 Exeter I’m staying on the flat, even on the Exeter jumps card with a selection in the concluding bumper.
The David Pipe trained Story Of Friends may well have run into a decent one when second to Pileon over course and distance last time out.
He’s worth another chance here, with very little tangible form on offer and none of the debutants making much appeal on paper.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points, except SUPERNAP at SP)
BET 20pts win (supernap) FRANZ KAFKA (2.20 Wetherby)
BET 13.1pts win BE MORE (2.50 Wetherby)
BET 9.75pts win STORY OF FRIENDS (8.20 Exeter)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 3 x 2pt win doubles and 1pt win treble above three
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