13-2 WINNER! THAT‘S SOMETHING: Daqman had a good-priced winner on both days of the weekend: Close Touch (WON 8-1) on Saturday and then Sixty Something (WON 13-2) yesterday.
‘CONTI, CONTI, CONTI’ IS THE GOLD CUP CRY: As he did with yesterday’s Champion Hurdle, Daqman has weighted the official ratings for the Gold Cup according to winning form on soft ground.
IT’S ALL HAPPENING TOMORROW: Daqman will dissect all the form for Cheltenham on all four days from tomorrow, with bankers, jackpots and lays.
I’ve heard them chant ‘Conteh, Conteh, Conteh’ before now. But that was in Liverpool, and that was for the world light-heavyweight champion.
Silviniaco Conti is lithe, athletic, just like that fine Scouse boxer John Conteh, whom Muhammad Ali persuaded to fight at the lower weight.
Maybe Ali wanted John out of the way but it was a shrewd move for John, too. Now the equine Conti may kick them all out of the way for the gold medal, come Friday of the racing Olympics at Cheltenham.
I gave each horse extra to the ratings: 3 points for an all-aged chase win on soft or heavy; 2 for novice chases in such conditions; 1 for hurdles. This was the outcome of my going test, with Conti the heavy rate.
Silviniaco Conti (182) I always thought he looked a good-ground horse in his paces – like the same sire’s Neptune Collonges – but his full sister, Toscana Conti, loved the Auteuil mud, and Silviniaco is on a hat-trick of soft-ground success after beating Long Run and The Giant Bolster the last twice. Can he stay the extra two furlongs up the Cheltenham hill?
Sir Des Champs (177) Was this the new ‘Dessie’ we saw when he won the hyped match with Flemenstar in the Irish Hennessy on heavy ground? Or was it that Flemenstar was a non-stayer? He certainly knocked Flemenstar out of all Cheltenham reckoning.
Long Run (175) The King George and Gold Cup winner in the space of two months in 2011, it was always assumed that a sounder surface would suit his finish. But he won on deep terrain in his younger days in France and took the King George again on Boxing Day in the Kempton mud.
Cape Tribulation (172) Pertemps Hurdles Final winner at Cheltenham last year but has come into his own over the bigger obstacles on heavy ground, following up his Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby with defeat of the absented Imperial Commander, giving him weight in a battle of real character and heart.
Captain Chris (172) Consistently kept to a sounder surface but took a Grade 2 at Ascot in November on heavy, albeit over much shorter and with the weights in his favour.
Beaten on soft-heavy by both Long Run and Cue Card since.
First Lieutenant (172) Second to Bobs Worth in the RSA on good ground last March, and placed since in the Punchestown Ryanair, the English Hennessy and the Lexus (beaten a head on soft). Placed in 15 of 18 Rules races, and by the same sire as Denman.
Bobs Worth (171) Bob Back’s best Flat horse, St Leger winner Bobs Return, and his best jumps horse, Thisthatandtother, both preferred the going on top, with only a bit of cut.
And Bobs Worth has been kept clear of heavy, even of soft, ground through his short 11-race career, winning five times on officially good and three times on good-to-soft.
The Giant Bolster (165) Last year’s 50-1 Gold Cup runner-up on a decent surface but found out twice on soft-heavy this season by Silviniaco Conti.
Bog Warrior (157) Hard to weigh up as his career has been divided between hurdles and chases but, having recorded a December-January hurdles hat-trick, he doesn’t look a Gold Cup horse to me. Soft ground will suit him in the World Hurdle.
Sunnyhillboy (157) A winner and second at the Cheltenham Festival in the last three years but all his best form is on a sound surface and this is his stepping-stone to the Grand National (beaten a nose last year).
Wayward Prince (150) RSA third in 2011 on good going and will also be much more at home at the Aintree Festival (form figures there 141).
Monbeg Dude (144) Two stone and more out of his depth here but a dour stayer who loves hock-deep mud, and the stats had him spot-on in the Speciality Chase on the opening day. He would have been a banker in that. Such were my dreams. But his connections dream of gold.
TODAY: West Country trainer Jeremy Scott has been hit by a double-whammy, with both Melodic Rendezvous (scoped badly) and Empiracle having to miss Cheltenham. Watch out for them at Aintree.
The in-form Scott will be hoping for minor recompense when he saddles Points winner Brockwell Park (2.50) at Taunton today, with the mare stepped up to 3m after running well over shorter.
Favourite Thedeboftheyear looks vulnerable, as a winner only once in more than three years. That was in this corresponding race in 2012 but on firm ground.
Rocky Bender is now weighted to reverse the placings with Qalinas, whom he got close to at Lingfield. But I’m inclined to think that that debased Qalinas’ form rather than boosting Rocky Bender’s.
Minella For Party (3.20) has kept good company – behind Chatterbox, My Tent Or Yours – but hasn’t beaten much in the process, while Seventh Sky has had winners behind him. The snag with Seventh Sky is that the stable hasn’t had a winner for 65 days, and counting.
There are three or four odds-on shots in total today at Taunton and Plumpton, but we don’t want to spend our Cheltenham money on bad horses at short prices.
Best offers must be the 3.4 Goochypoochyprader (3.10 Plumpton), with the next two in the betting both with trainers on the cold list.
DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 4.4pts win BROCKWELL PARK (2.50 Taunton)
BET 8.3pts win (nap) GOOCHYPOOCHYPRADER (3.10 Plumpton)
BET 8pts win MINELLA FOR PARTY (3.20 Taunton)
* Daqman’s bets are to win 20 points, so you know the offer he took (divide 20 by the stake)
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