DAQMAN POINTS UP BETDAQ VALUE: Daqman landed his nap, Bernard Spierpoint (WON 4-6), at Wolverhampton last night from morning offers on BETDAQ of 2.6.
TODAY: Back to the jumps for the nap with the ‘handicap snip’ of the day at Hereford.
MANIA’S HEAD IN THE CLOUDS AGAIN: Jockey Ryan Mania scored nine wins in a row, still standing, via Massini Man at Musselburgh yesterday. The 2013 Grand National winning jockey (on Sue Smith’s 66-1 Auroras Encore) left racing for five years before he won on 28-1 Vintage Clouds for the same stable at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival.
TODAY: Cheltenham 2023 ‘See How They Won’ previews launched.
CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL 2023
13 FROM IRELAND FOR THE GOLD CUP: There were 27 entries yesterday for the Cheltenham Gold Cup on March 17, among them 13 from Ireland, including five for Willie Mullins: Franco De Port and Monkfish, plus three Daqman Fortune Cookies: Capodanno, Galopin Des Champs and Stattler.
The first SEE HOW THEY WON feature for Cheltenham is below.
SEE HOW THEY WON: GOLD
See how they won. The stats are a vital clue to the Cheltenham Gold Cup, where the trend is to younger horses.
There have been no winners of a double-figure age this century. The last one was Cool Dawn (1998); otherwise you have to go back 30 years.
Only Kauto Star (2007 and 2009) has lost the crown and won it back. So there are two black marks against Minella Indo: his age, 10, and his bid for a double, spread over three years; he was beaten last year by Henry De Bromhead stablemate A Plus Tard.
In the same race, Al Boum Photo, the winner for Willie Mullins in 2019 and 2020 when aged seven and eight, was only sixth in a bid to regain the title, also at the age of 10.
Though the Irish have won six of the last seven, champion-trainer Mullins has had no other Gold Cup winner; Al Boum Photo apart, it’s not his race.
But he has key operators for the big race in March: two top seven-year-olds in Capodanno and Galopin Des Champs; that’s the supreme age.
The truly great Gold Cup winners all began their reign at aged seven: Arkle, L’Escargot, Captain Christy, Best Mate and Kauto Star.
The home defence is led by Paul Nicholls with Bravemansgame and Venetia Williams with L’Homme Presse (the King George 1-2, had not L’Homme Presse pitched on landing after the last) plus Protektorat, trained by Dan Skelton, third last year but has improved since.
Official ratings: 180 A Plus Tard, 175 Galopin Des Champs, 174 Shishkin, 172 Bravemansgame, 170 L’Homme Presse and Protektorat, 168 Minella Indo. All carry 11st 10lb.
LOOPY TO MISS MAULDE
⭕ 3.30 Hereford Loup De Maulde looks the handicap snip of the day and is also my nap.
The six-year-old positively bolted up at Huntingdon on Boxing Day, winning by eight and a half lengths and also having the remainder of his field well strung out. He escapes a penalty for that win and races here before his 7lb hike kicks in.
Tony Wynne rides again and the combination should prove hard to beat.
He was looking pretty strong on the morning Betdaq Betting Exchange market and is preferred to Pottlerath who has developed a bout of seconditis for which the handicapper is treating him with a rise in the weights each time!
Flying Nun ran OK when fourth to Phillapa Sue at Hereford but the winner let the form down badly next time out and the biggest threat may come from Alkopop whose two runs this season have been encouraging and the grey handles the soft ground well.
DON’T MISS SWISS
⭕ 6.30 Kempton Not much variety on tonight’s Kempton card. It’s an eight race mix of class 5’s and 6’s with just two non-handicap races on offer including the 6.00 which looks best swerved.
Two interesting debutants are being well supported against Star Guest who sets the standard after her debut Lingfield second. It looks a three card trick – and good luck if you are playing.
A better bet could be Swiss Pride in the six furlong handicap at 6.30.
The Roger Teal trained runner is a multiple all-weather winner and judged by his latest two efforts another win looks around the corner off his current mark.
CEND THE MONEY
⭕ 8.30 Kempton Connections of Sicario might be able to relate to the phrase ‘system working well, please send more money’. He’s been a beaten favourite in his last four starts and heads the market again. Not for me.
Clifford Lee was in good form with a Wolverhampton treble last night and partners Three Dons here who is 0-18 over a variety of trips. The fact he is so prominent in the market tells you all you need to know about the quality of this heat.
Cendrillon could be over-priced on the basis that she’s one of the few in the race that you can see improving. There was much more ability from her last time at Wolverhampton and will go off a lot shorter than her previous price tags of 300/1 (twice), 200/1, 50/1 and 25/1.
DAQMAN’S BETS
3.30 Hereford (win 10, nap)
BET 5.3pts win LOUP DE MAULDE
6.30 Kempton (win 10)
BET 3.3pts win SWISS PRIDE
8.30 Kempton (win 10)
BET 2.0pts win CENDRILLON
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Start with a bank and decide how much you can afford to lose over a period of time, and determine the size of your bets accordingly. Daqman makes this variation every day.
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