BY GEORGE! 2-1 NAP WINS SO EASILY: Daqman bounced back to form in time for the weekend racing and Royal Ascot with a very easy win for his nap, George Bowen (WON 2-1), clearly a horse – and a tipster – to follow. Our man had two other possible returns yesterday, places at 9-1 and 16-1.

DAQMAN’S ROYAL ASCOT WARNINGS: Layers beware! Daqman landed a 164-1 double on the final day at Royal Ascot last year. Punters beware! Today he has warnings, too, for Ascot punters: the ante-post negatives of horses doubly engaged, the vital effect of the draw and a hidden race change.


MY 164-1 BETDAQ ASCOT DOUBLE

WON 15.0 COMMISSIONED (2016 Queen Alexandra Stakes)
WON 10-1 DARTMOUTH (2016 Hardwicke Stakes)

2.30 Royal Ascot, (Queen’s Vase, Friday next) A race I usually look forward to but it has changed this year, upped from Listed to Group 2 and with the distance chopped from 2m to little more than 1m 5f. Watch out with your form study!

3.40 Royal Ascot (Commonwealth Cup, Friday next) Sometimes long odds on BETDAQ are not what they seem. Check ALL the horse’s engagements.

For instance, you can get double the odds on BETDAQ – behind the short-priced favourite, Caravaggio – about Dream Castle (27.0 against 12-1 with bookies) but she is more likely to run in Tuesday’s Jersey Stakes.

4.20 Royal Ascot (Coronation Stakes, Friday next) Some layers are showing 10-1 John Gosden’s Daban to beat the hot-pot Winter, whereas you can get 18.0 on BETDAQ.

But Daban was beaten into third by Winter in the 1,000 Guineas and is also destined for Tuesday’s Jersey Stakes.

3.40 Royal Ascot (Hardwicke Stakes, Saturday next) Four-year-olds have won every year – nine times in a row – since 2007.

Sir Michael Stoute, who took it last year with Dartmouth, dominates with six winners in that time.

Dartmouth was the 10-1 start of a big double for me last year, and I have 6-1 for this column for a repeat, with Jack Hobbs and Highland Reel likely to run elsewhere at the meeting.

5.00 Royal Ascot, (Wokingham Stakes, Saturday next) Wait for it! You really can’t bet in the Wokingham cavalry charge without knowing the draw.

In the last four years the winners have come from stalls 28, 21, 27 and 22, but the main thing is to be on one of the extremes, low or high. The middle does badly. There’s been only one winner over the age of five since 1998

5.35 Royal Ascot (Queen Alexandra Stakes, Saturday next) Commissioned completed a 164-1 double for me on the Friday of last year’s royal meeting, following on Dartmouth in the HardwickedStakes earlier in the day.

Yes, the SPs were 10-1 and 12-1 but I had taken 15.0 Commissioned on BETDAQ. It’s always better to bet with BETDAQ.


YOU CAN’T BACK ULYSSES BLIND

Here’s another punters’ warning. Those who have already backed Ulysses for the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot will do a double-take when they see Ulysses in the Claygate Handicap (5.25) at Sandown today. Don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring!

In fact, there have been SIX horses registered as Ulysses in recent years, all still showing in the Racing Post form database, though I only had the one in mine. So it hit me hard in the stats to see another runner of the same name today!

The Hardwicke horse is Sir Michael Stoute’s ULYSSES (USA) whereas today’s runner is ULYSSES (GER) and other previous horses of that name had breeding suffixes from IRE, SAF, GB and AUS. It simply shouldn’t be allowed.

There are 171,476 words in current usage of the English language, plus 47,156 obsolete words, and an additional 61,000 titles, proper names, derivatives, and terminological names from mythology to scientific and biological ‘labels, groups and configurations’ in regular or occasional use (Phew! Thankyou Mark, my local’s pub-quiz king). So can we give Ulysses a rest, please?


JUPITER TO BE SEEN IN BETTER LIGHT

3.45 Sandown Top Beak showed enough in a class 2 at Epsom on the last day to have a say in this class 4 masquerading as a class 3.

Sure graded racing is a sliding scale and they are all known to the handicapper, but I’ve proved from my results over the years that there is tougher competition the higher grade you race in, and that lower-class animals don’t always reproduce the same level of form. The scale may slide up and down but the horses are often unable to move from a fixed level once their ability is exposed.

Shargiah and Solo Hunter are up in weight and grade for winning class-4 contests in May, and Proctor who is useful at today’s level hasn’t been seen for 266 days.

In fact, Prendergast Hill is weighted to reverse Windsor form with Shargiah, 8lb better for a length and a neck. I took 10.0 Prendergast Hill and 8.2 Top Beak.

4.20 Sandown Henry Candy has obvious chances tonight with forecast favourites at Goodwood (6.35 Noble Peace) and Chepstow (7.00 Squiggley) but what seems to be an outside chance with Medicean Ballet – a 16-1 opening show – in this one at Sandown.

But she was quickly 13.0 on BETDAQ, with news circulating of a timely sparkling gallop. There was plenty of 2-1 a place.

4.50 Sandown There’s nothing in his breeding to suggest that Archetype can be effective at 1m 2f, so this looks like a fishing expedition.

Dream Machine was lucky to hang on at Haydock against one slowly away, with the third horse a maiden now in eight starts. Lunar Jet, Romanor, Zamalight and Testbourne are also maidens.

Mullarkey failed at Newbury to make the step up to this level with 6lb extra for scoring at Nottingham

Jupiter Light, who attempted the Esher Cup here in April, is interesting now in this grade in first-time blinkers. The BETDAQ 9.2 offers this morning were taken to win 20, with excellent place prospects at 2.88.

5.25 Sandown Ulysses is also blinkered first time. That is to say, Ulysses (GER), which is where I came in. Blinkered, too, Oxford Blu (6.6 on BETDAQ), whose dam was a two-mile winner.

DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 20 points)
BET 2.75pts win TOP BEAK, and 2pts win and place PRENDERGAST HILL (3.45 Sandown)
BET 1.66pts win and place MEDICEAN BALLET, and 2pts win (stakes saver) TIME CHASER (4.20 Sandown)
BET 2.5pts win and place (nap) JUPITER LIGHT (4.50 Sandown)
BET 3.5pts win OXFORD BLU (5.25 Sandown)


Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.

Bet via BETDAQ mobile below