UP UP AND AWAY: NOW THREE NAPS IN A ROW FOR DAQMAN: Upswing (WON 11-10) gave DAQMAN his third consecutive winning nap following on from Salsify (WON 2-1) Friday and Kaylif Aramis (WON 9-4) on Saturday. His naps sequence is now 110111, which includes two in his hat-trick of winning bankers.
LUCKY ELEVEN FOR THE SPRING JUMPS FESTIVALS: The great news is that we’ll be able to see Sprinter Sacre in action at the Punchestown festival. What else can jumps fans look forward to at Aintree and Punchestown? Here’s Daqman’s revised list of horses to follow for the rest of the NH season.
TOMORROW: THE EARLY BIRDS ON THE FLAT: Who are the Early Birds? They could get you in the money from the ‘off’ of the new Flat season at Doncaster this week. It’s another hot list from Daqman tomorrow.
BAILY GREEN Punchestown novice-chase winner who will no doubt be back there at the end-of-April festival for Mouse Morris after a massive performance to finish a very respectable second to Simonsig in the Arkle at Cheltenham last week.
His form was further franked the following day at the meeting by his narrow Cork conqueror Tofino Bay, a gallant second in the 4m National Hunt Chase.
CAPTAIN CHRIS A novice-chase winner at Punchestown early in his fencing career, Captain Chris would be an automatic festival choice back there again, if Philip Hobbs only knew that the going would be on top.
The King George fourth tired at the top of the hill in Friday’s Gold Cup on the rugged Cheltenham track. Punchestown is much more his game.
EASTER DAY I’m hoping he goes for the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle at the Aintree Festival. I think he’s been winning despite the winter ground and will jump better on a sounder surface and over a longer trip.
EMPIRACLE All the rage in the West Country betting shops, but had to be withdrawn from the Cheltenham bumper. Don’t miss him when he’s fit.
GEVREY CHAMBERTIN Broke his maiden over hurdles at Aintree on a sound surface and may well be given a chance to redeem his reputation – that Aintree win launched a treble – at the Liverpool track, putting the disappointment of Cheltenham behind him
MELODIC RENDEZVOUS From the same stable as Empiracle, also had to miss the Festival, when very strongly fancied for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Catch him on the way back.
NUTS N BOLTS I fancied this one at a big price for the Speciality Chase at Cheltenham after he’d improved 15lb in back-to-back wins at Ayr.
Lucinda Russell’s Marju seven-year-old duly ran a blinder last Tuesday, coming from a long way back to finish sixth, only a couple of lengths off the placed horses.
Sixth! What good was that? Answer: it’s a very good trial indeed for the Scottish Grand National, back at his beloved Ayr in April.
OVERTURN They keep ‘expecting’ Overturn at Cheltenham but it’s just not his course, hard enough for any front-runner, and his three chase wins in a row stand him in good stead for Aintree after failing to cope with the soft ground behind Simonsig last week.
PONT ALEXANDRE One of the few reverses for Willie Mullins at Cheltenham, the trainer said a few weeks ago – quoted by me before his defeat on Wednesday – that he’d be a better horse on good ground. Punchestown will be the test of that.
SEABASS Third in the Grand National last year when I had 60.0 on BETDAQ. I’ve bagged 16.0 this time.
CAPPA BLEU I’m also on Cappa Bleu at 23,0, and I’ve done a Ladbrokes double Seabass and Cappa Bleu in the National with Captain Bertie in the Lincoln. Tomorrow, I’ll be discussing Captain Bertie and other Flat early birds.
TODAY:
Please can we have Cheltenham back? I found it easier to get some angles in last week, even in the 24 runner handicaps, than today’s racing which looks very trappy. 14 races on the all-weather at Kempton and Wolverhampton and 11 of them are handicaps.
There’s a naps sequence to preserve so the pressure is on and in the end I’ve settled on Spillway as the nap in the opener at Kempton.
The Eve Johnson Houghton trained runner has run well in two starts at the track and should be aided by the step up in distance. She is currently second favourite on BETDAQ to the John Gosden trained Punditry who shaped well enough over C&D on debut but it’s a classic case of swap the trainers and Spillway would be a very short priced favourite.
There are other dangers including Vastly and long-term maiden Jullundar but they all help make the price about the nap.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 8.5pts win (nap) SPILLWAY (2.20 Kempton)
BET 10pts win MIZYEN (3.00 Wolverhampton)
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