DUTY CALLS DAQMAN TO LAND TWO MORE WINNERS: That old fox Daqman found two winners in three races yesterday for an overall 26-point profit. All in the line of duty..
WON 7-2 CURIOUS FOX
WON 6-5 LINE OF DUTY (nap)
THE WORLD OF NATIONALS COMES AROUND AGAIN: Before the weekend’s Haydock Sprint Meeting, Daqman looks ahead to the change of seasons and the arrival of the Grand Nationals and memories of Rule The World and Tiger Roll, winners of the Liverpool Grand National for his column at 25-1 and 10-1 SP.
JURY OUT FOR NEW NATIONAL SEASON
Twenty-three Grand Nationals! Well, not all ‘grand’ but the National season starts a week today, and there are said to be 23 of them in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland between Wednesday week and the Aintree king of them all.
The first is the Kerry National at Listowel, in which trainer Gordon Elliott is going for a hat-trick. He’s won it back to back with seven-year-olds, so I’m expecting him to line up Jury Duty.
Jury Duty looks superior to anything else in the race, after following up April’s Punchestown Novice Chase third with a reappearance third in the Galway Plate.
Those two excellent performances have added only 4lb to his rating and, yes you guessed it, he is aged seven, so yet another young improver of that age for Gordon.
In fact, Elliott’s winning pair of the last two seasons followed success for another seven-year-old, Mouse Morris’s Rogue Angel (2015).
I backed Rogue Angel (WON 8-1) that day and followed up with a successful bull’s-eye bet in this column when he captured the Irish Grand National the following March (WON 16-1).
The great thing about jumping’s marathons is that you can follow the horses in them for several years, and you can be sure that such as Gordon and Mouse can themselves be followed with more and better stamina-packed horses year on year.
This column tipped both Silver Birch and Tiger Roll to win the Liverpool Grand National for Elliott and Rule The World for Morris. Thanks you guys.. Still celebrating!
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU
4.35 Bath Not unusually, Bath is firm today and as a result there are 3,4,5,6,7 runner races on the card.
Don’t let the small fields lull you into thinking there are some easy opportunities though. Far from it, it’s a very trappy card and even the three runner race has a Sudoku feel about it.
In the fillies handicap I thought the Harry Dunlop trained Space Talk was worth another chance. The trainer has been relatively quiet recently, although popped up with a nice Group 3 winner at Longchamp over the weekend with Jackfinbar.
Space Talk was a beaten favourite at Haydock last time out where she couldn’t peg back Miss Sheridan. It was her handicap debut and this looks an easier opportunity.
Keeper’s Choice is the obvious danger. She won a Newbury handicap three starts ago and has struggled with the weight rise in two starts since but again will find this company easier.
6.20 Wolverhampton The Sir Michael Stoute trained Extreme Force was nibbled at in the market on debut at Windsor and ran a solid debut in finishing fourth to Fares Kodiak.
The two-year-olds from the stable usually improve plenty but he won’t need much improvement to land this under Ryan Moore and Extreme Force already holds chief market rival Luxor who was seventh in the Windsor race.
The Godolphin runner Madkhal only beat one home on debut at Leicester – despite going off the 7/4 favourite. Improvement likely but it was an inauspicious start.
6.30 Ffos Las It’s easy to get suckered into Spirit Ridge with the sexy form figures and sporting the famous Abdullah silks. However, it was only a modest four-runner Catterick event he won last time out and whilst undoubtedly progressive the 7lb penalty might prove an anchor.
In search of better BETDAQ value in the race I thought Capestra was worth a second look. He was beaten 29 lengths on debut at Lingfield but shaped much better at Newbury last time out when fourth in a race where the form is working out quite well. His trainer Ralph Beckett is ticking along nicely with seven winners from his last 36 runners.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points)
BET 7.6pts win SPACE TALK (4.35 Bath)
BET 10.5pts win (nap) EXTREME FORCE (6.20 Wolverhampton)
BET 2.9pts win CAPESTRA (6.30 Ffos Las)
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