DAQMAN SPARKLE IN THE ARKLE: Daqman named the winners of the Arkle (5-1 but 9.6 on BETDAQ) and the Fred Winter (a win-50 bull’s-eye bet) on the opening day at Cheltenham yesterday and marked the odds-on Arkle third as a lay.
WON 17-2 PUTURHANDSTOGETHER (bull’s-eye bet)
WON 5-1 JANGO BAIE (BETDAQ 9.6 taken)
WON (same race) MAJBOROUGH Lay 1-2 3rd
ACE TRUMPS TWO CHAMPIONS: Golden Ace (25-1) won the Champion Hurdle yesterday after the previous winners of the race, Constitution Hill at 2-1 on and State Man, both fell. Scores so far:
🔢 TRAINERS: Willie Mullins (2), Rebecca Curtis, Nicky Henderson, Joseph O’Brien, Lucinda Russell, Jeremy Scott
🔢 JOCKEYS: Paul Townend (2), Nico De Boinville, Ben Jones, Patrick Wadge, Mark Walsh, Lorcan Williams,
CLAY CAN GRAB LION’S SHARE
CHELTENHAM DAY 2: SNOW: weather very cold this morning, with snow; going good to soft.
LAYS LOGIC: 20 of the last 21 Coral Cup (2.40) favourites have been beaten. There have been six odds-on losers of the Champion Chase (4.00) in nine years.
📈 BIG VALUE: BETDAQ offers for first six races today had total percentages of 101, 102, 106, 104, 101, 105% this morning. Bookmakers SPs of the last two races yesterday added up to 132% and 131%
* Full stats and facts on all Day-2 races: see last Wednesday
⭕ 1.20 Cheltenham (Turners Novices’ Hurdle) England will be cheering on a J P McManus victory, if the Dan Skelton trained The New Lion can halt Willie Mullins’s bid for a race four-timer with Final Demand.
The New Lion’s Challow Hurdle victim, Wendigo, went on to win unchallenged at Wetherby but, though Belliano, his runner-up at Chepstow in the autumn, scored the next twice, he flopped when raised in class at Sandown on Saturday.
Challow Hurdle winners, including Denman and Bravemansgame, have failed 20 times in this.
Final Demand beat Wingmen at Leopardstown by a margin similar to that inflicted at Naas by The Yellow Clay, a powerful son of Yeats who could have had an easier time of it in the Albert Bartlett.
Sixmilebridge slammed Potters Charm here at Cheltenham in January when Bill Joyce, five lengths or so behind The New Lion at Newbury, was 12 lengths adrift but giving weight.
Betdaq Betting Exchange value: 6.0 The Yellow Clay, 26 Sixmilebridge
FORM BOOSTS FOR BALLYBURN
⭕ 2.00 Cheltenham (Brown Advisory Novices Chase) This is the clash of three of last year’s winners at the festival, all Irish, all in good form this year, with no English challengers today.
Ballyburn (pictured below) beat Croke Park five lengths at Leopardstown (2m 5f), after that one had headed Better Days Ahead there over today’s 3m trip.
Stellar Story just failed to catch Better Days Ahead at Navan last month (3m), which further suggests that Ballyburn is a banker.
BETDAQ VALUE BATS FOR YOU
⭕ 2.40 Cheltenham (Coral Cup) Dan Skelton’s choice for a hat-trick in this (after back-to-back wins with Langer Dan) is one consistently beaten since his debut with form figures of 22223, rising a stone in the handicap but never yet asked to race this far.
Though his brothers have not even tried it, Be Aware will attempt to emulate the progeny of his sire Martaline, which are prolific up to Irish Grand National winning distance. Very lightly raced; six runs only.
The runner-up to Langer Dan last year, Ballyadam, is 10 now. Rachael Blackmore sticks with him but there’s surely nothing left to learn about him at his age and after 24 starts.
J P McManus must have a big chance with his pair, Comfort Zone (another with a place-only sequence) ,who has had twice as many races as Impose Toi, now in cheekpieces after just 10 starts.
Beat The Bat is well bred for this (Walk In The Park out of a Presenting mare) related to winners up to 3m 2f. Tenth start today and will appreciate the better ground.
Willie Mullins’ Bunting crashed in the market at one stage but was a too-easy 11.0 in BETDAQ offers this morning.
Betdaq Betting Exchange value 8.4 Impose Toi, 12 Beat The Bat. LAY Be Aware
GALVIN GOOD ON THE GROUND
⭕ 3.20 Cheltenham (Cross-Country) Gordon Elliott has produced three Grand National horses from this race during his six wins out of seven, including the Covid year of the name transfer to Denise Foster.
Four of his six runners here are entered at Aintree, but only Galvin (4th in last year’s National) and Coko Beach (hampered three out) are the ones most likely to get in at the weights.
Galvin will love the better ground today, while correspondingly Coko Beach has drifted alarmingly.
Vanillier weakened out of the longer cross-country over much further at Cheltenham in December, won readily by Stumptown.
JONBON FACES NATIONALE ROAR
⭕ 4.00 Cheltenham (Champion Chase) Six odds-on losers in nine years, with the hot-pot Jonbon taken on by previous winners, Energumene (2022-23) and Captain Guinness (2024). But who is best of this big three?
Jonbon was master of Energumene on a flat track at Ascot but in very small fields at Cheltenham shows 2 wins 2 defeats, whereas Captain Guinness is 321 there and Energumene 131.
But Energumene is 11 now and Captain Guinness was a lucky Champion last year when the race fell apart, and he went for a walk in the betting this morning.
The money laid down against Jonbon is for Marine Nationale, just now growing in stature over fences.
Yesterday’s tributes to Michael O’Sullivan will be as nothing to the massive roar if his Supreme winner can sail up the straight as a surprise ending to this seeming tale of three champions.
Betdaq Betting Exchange value 6.9 Marine Nationale. SAVER Jonbon
AMERICAN MIKE ‘HIDDEN HORSE’
⭕ 4.40 Cheltenham (Grand Annual Challenge Cup) When Unexpected Party won this last year, Gavin Cromwell’s the King Of Prs was miles back.
But he was only a six-year-old then and he has stepped up to win a Grade 3 this year, jumping better but still only a couple of pound higher in the handicap, thanks to his rider’s claim, and gets 16lb from stable-Mate ‘Mozzie.’
Trainer Cromwell saves them up for the big occasion and would have pinched the Arkle from odds-on Majborough yesterday with 25-1 Only By Night but for lone English cavalryman Nico De Boinville finishing fast and late on Jango Baie to avert an Irish one-two.
Jazzy Matty won the Fred Winter here as a hurdler and, returned to the course in November, was just pipped over this Old course and distance in a small field.
The ‘hidden horse’ is American Mike, who beat Nick Rockett a year ago, and outjumped Fact To File as a novice.
I’ll whisper it. Wouldn’t want any one of the ‘experts’ to hear me suggest that the better ground will help a Venetia Williams runner, so sure are they all that her winners are aligned only to heavy.
In fact, Martator scored on heavy a year ago but his form since then on good ground was 1111 until raised in class. A little terrier at a very big price, could bounce back.
Betdaq Betting Exchange value: 10 Jazzy Matty, 20 American Mike and The King Of Prs, 84 Martator
DAQMAN’S BETS on Betdaq Betting Exchange
1.20 Cheltenham (win 25)
BET 5pts win THE YELLOW CLAY
BET 1pt win and place SIXMILEBRIDGE
★ 2.00 Cheltenham (supernap)
BET 20pts win BALLYBURN
2.40 Cheltenham (win-50 bull’s-eye bets)
BET 7pts win IMPOSE TOI
BET 4.5pts win BEAT THE BAT
3.20 Cheltenham (win 20)
BET 6pts win STUMPTOWN
BET 4.5pts win GALVIN
4.00 Cheltenham (win 30)
BET 5pts win MARINE NATIONALE
BET even 10pts win JONBON
4.40 Cheltenham (win-50 bull’s-eye bets)
BET 5pts win JAZZY MATTY
BET 2.5pts win and place AMERICAN MIKE
BET 2.5pts win and place THE KING OF PRS
🚀 Super long-shot to win 104
BET 1pt win and 3pts place (5 places 7.8) MARTATOR
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