HAVE A NAP-HAPPY CHRISTMAS: Daqman goes for a double of bankers (one of them napped) and a one-point yankee in a bid to make some Christmas cash on the last day’s racing before Boxing Day at three meetings this afternoon.

FRIDAY: ABC FOR KING GEORGE: On Friday the gloves are off for a Boxing Day clash with Pricewise (current score Daqman 7, Pricewise 5) as our man bids to solve the King George on the big Kempton Park card, with a special ABC Guide.

SATURDAY: WELSH NATIONAL DAY: There’ll be another horse-by-horse analysis of the Welsh Grand National, and more value hunting as Daqman bids to extend his lead over Pricewise, with the overall score 115-64.


LAST IS TOP IN WELSH NATIONAL HANDICAP

Saturday’s National is a Welsh rarebit. The race is bucking the trend toward quality horses higher up the big handicaps. The last three seasons have seen winners off 10st and 10st 1lb (twice).

And in the 17 years since 1997 (there were no races in 1995 and 96), some 11 winners have carried 10st 5lb or less.

Another strong factor is age. The last five to score have all been eight and, of those last 17 winners, 13 have been six, seven or eight; none in double figures and, in fact, just two 10-year-olds have cracked it since 1976.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, who has trained Earth Summit and Bindaree to win this Welsh Grand National and go on to take the National proper at Aintree, had Benbens bang on 10st.

Likely defections at the top – Harry Topper, then Unioniste – have sent Benbens flying up the handicap through no fault of his own to 10st 11lb.

But that has dragged two other ‘Twiston’ runners, the eight-year.-old Sybarite and Tour Des Champs, aged seven – both originally out of the handicap in the long version – up to 10st 5lb and 10st 4lb.

Others down at the dangerous end of the handicap are Tom George’s strongly-built Flemensfirth chaser Big Society and Global Power, who has been trained for this race all year by Oliver Sherwood, who won the Hennessy with Many Clouds.


NORDIC NYMPH IS READY MADE FOR A TRADE

BANGOR The opening race sees Mister Grez and Stone Light both drop from Listed company. Stone Light (1.00) ran well for a long way at Ascot on his reappearance, and could carry too many guns for Mister Grez.

Charlie Longsdon’s yard is in good heart with the following form figures in the last 12 days for all runners at 10-1 or shorter: 12123. Coologue (2.30) should add to that.

He bumped into a McCoy-ridden back-to-back winner on the last day but finished 16 lengths clear of the remainder.

Like the Longsdon runners – only more so – Henry Daly’s horses have been right punts lately! Just look at these SPs in the last fortnight: 15-8 (2nd), 13-8 (0), 4-1 (2nd), 9-4 (fell), 9-2 (won), 8-13 (won), 3-1 (won) and two beaten favourites at Haydock.

That means two things to BETDAQ backers. Get on early; lay off late. And the beast in question? Nordic Nymph (3.00), stepped up in trip for her handicap debut.

KEMPTON What have Assagher, Counterproof, Tempus Temporis and Falling Petals in common? Answer: all are two-year-old winners in the last 12 days for John Gosden after one, two or even three losing maiden runs.

Another one today is Made With Love (2.20); in fact, the best of them if he can reproduce his Wood Ditton second on turf for Roger Varian, with seven around him – winner, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth, 11th – all winning subsequent races.

Made With Love was a beaten odds-on favourite next time out, hanging his chance away but, caught fresh here, on his first run for Gosden, should beat this modest field.

Once upon a prosperous time, we were used to half a dozen sequence horses a year from Sir Mark Prescott, building win after win after win through the grades.

Not so many of his perform this ratings-climbing feat these days but Don’t Be (3.20) has landed back-to-back success in class 5 with a 10lb rise on two surfaces, Wolverhampton and Lingfield.

Today she is upwardly mobile, bidding for the AW hat-trick, now trying the Kempton Polytrack, officially rated only 4lb higher but, in fact, with 4lb off her back because of the rise to class 4.

WOLVERHAMPTON In the Ladbrokes Handicap (3.10) on Tapeta at Wolverhampton, older horses – one aged 10, two 7, two 6 – can be expected to give way to the youngsters, aged three and four at this time of year, with the thoroughbred birthday coming up in nine days’ time.

Order Of Service seems to have caught connections by surprise when allowed to win at 10-1 at Redcar in October; even more so, when they let him start 25-1 for a winning follow-up, switched to today’s course and distance 10lb higher.

Mediceans often improve as they mature and Jim Goldie sends him down from Scotland for a hat-trick bid here, again easy to back on BETDAQ this morning.

Mr Bossy Boots is also a CD winner, while Shyron has won twice at Wolver, once over 6f on the old Polytrack and recently over CD on the new Tapeta surface.

Shyron has already won a class-3 on turf, but the aptly named son of Byron out of Coconut Shy creeps under the class-4 ceiling here.

In an open market, with Order Of Service again ignored, I’ll back two and save on t’other.

In fact, I’ll be ducking and weaving on the Daq all day but I can’t tell you what my dealings will be in advance of price changes, so I have to put up the three I’m most interested in at current offers.

It’s a cracking little contest of four winners last time out within a total spread of a stone. When they start reopening races to boost the numbers of runners, the powers-that-be must not forget handicaps.

They should make two rules: try to keep the total in handicaps at 10 and above for the sake of each-way backers and keep the handicap range to between 10lb and a stone where possible.

DAQMAN’S BETS (Strength 1 to 9pts, with 10pt stake for a banker)
BET 8pts win STONE LIGHT (1.00 Bangor)
BANKER: BET 10pts win MADE WITH LOVE (2.20 Kempton)
BANKER: BET 10pts win (nap) COOLOGUE (2.30 Bangor)
BET 5pts win NORDIC NYMPH (3.00 Bangor)
BET 4pts win SHYRON and 2pts win and place ORDER OF SERVICE, with 3pts win (stakes saver) MR BOSSY BOOTS (3.10 Wolverhampton)
BET 7pts DON’T BE (3.20 Kempton)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 1pt win yankee STONE LIGHT (1.00 Bangor), MADE WITH LOVE (2.20 Kempton), COOLOGUE (2.30 Bangor), DON’T BE (3.20 Kempton)


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