GORGEOUS DOUBLE AS DAQMAN STRIKES AGAIN: Daqman yesterday landed a second winning double in two days as he dared to nap in a 16-runner auction race for two-year-olds. He put Vital Gold (WON 2-1) in his Daq Multiples with Lady Gorgeous (WON 4-1).
14-1 FOLLOWS 20-1: That made up a 14-1 double, following the 20-1 double on Thursday with Hunter’s Light (WON 2-1) and Foxesbow (WON 6-1).
FOUR NAPS UP OUT OF FIVE: Vital Gold was the fourth winning nap from his last five – the loser was second – after Hunter’s Light, Shamdarley (WON 2-1) and Mojolika (WON 7-4).
74.0 LOCAL COUP PLANNED: Expecting going changes because of the rain, Daqman has taken some early positions at massive prices: 74.0, 19.0, 18.5 and 17.0, claiming the 74.0 shot as an intended local coup at Market Rasen. He’s reaching for the sky!
2.05 Market Rasen (Summer Hurdle): Skye But N Ben – 74.0 on Betdaq this morning – won’t need a horsebox. He’s trained beside the track and has the blinkers back on after a run without them last week under the jockey picked to pull off a coup today: Sam Twiston-Davies.
‘Skye’ won four out of five last year and is not the forlorn hope the betting suggests, though not the improver like another local horse, Laterley, though that one must have rain to take part.
Class wise, both are dwarfed by Punchestown winner Street Entertainer and Swinton Hurdle runner-up Knight In Purple but this pair have massive weights, carried just once in the last decade and by a Pipe-McCoy horse at that.
Pipe-McCoy have also won with a four-year-old, so it seems very much on the cards that the young Street Entertainer will show the required improvement.
2.20 Newbury (Hackwood Stakes): Three-year-olds (both supplied by Hannon today) won four in a row up to 2005, and to say they had been vanquished since would be wrong: they’ve had only a handful of outsiders in the race recently and, the last time they were short prices, three-year-olds were second and fourth in the same year.
A high stall has been vital in the last five years, with winners from 7, 11, 8, 8 and 10. Last year’s winner, Regal Parade, is in 10, having won it from 7 in 2010, but he needs rain.
Deacon Blues won the Wokingham on soft but, giving weight that day, Pastoral Player missed the break and would have a chance of revenge at levels, if the rain stays away. Markab’s front-running style would also be blunted by rain but he’s suited by the race conditIons.
So you need to wait until you know the ground before having a bet. From over my cornflakes, I shall have a bob or two on Retainer at 19.0 this morning, as a first position on the race.
2.35 Newmarket: Four-year-olds lead three-year-olds 5-4, with John Gosden (Imperial Pippin) four out of 10, and responsible for the only winning favourite in the decade.
They watered on Thursday; now rain is forecast, in which case may be runaway Haydock winner Wild Coco will be the second-season animal to back. That’s the way the market was this morning.
But the each-way tickle I fancy is Charleston Lady. Her breeding suggests this late developer is crying out for the trip, and 17.0 on the Daq this morning was another good first position.
2.55 Newbury: Not a single winner from the lower echelons of this handicap: you need 9st 7lb minimum, three or four years old, and I shall be surprised if Sir Michael Stoute can’t land me a nap with Heavenly Dawn, another late developer who looks too good for this handicap and is expected to get black type later on.
Rain would see Ryan Moore take them on from the front and run this Pivotal filly away from the rest of the field, but she could remain odds against on the current firm surface.
3.10 Newmarket: Another Stoute hope with potential, kept in training as a four-year-old, and with the man he mentored through many a crisis, Kieren Fallon, in the saddle. Give Your Verdict is an each-way price at offers of 6.4 as I write but I shall twist or bust.
3.30 Newbury (Super Sprint): As you would guess, Richard Hannon (four wins in seven years) dominates this: so do lightweights: the parameters 8st 1lb to 8st 7lb trap six of the nine winners.
Only one horse has scored with more than 8st 12lb, and only one has been drawn higher than 15. Fillies have won 11 times in the 19 years of this race, and Lily’s Angel, fifth at Royal Ascot when badly drawn, may need the rain.
Sweet Chilli, just behind her at Ascot, is better off at the weights and could turn the tables if it remains firm, while Mention targets the Lowther Stakes and On The Dark Side is also classy, having run well for much of the way in the Queen Mary.
Redact and Eureka are both unbeaten Hannon contenders in the right place in the weights, and it’s Eureka who has Richard Hughes up and which has the big entry (Gimcrack).
But winners of this have usually had between three and five races and the obvious punt for exchange backers is On The Dark Side at 18.5, since she goes with the pace and is sure to be shorter in running. Back and lay.
3.45 Market Rasen (Summer Plate): Peter Bowen has won four of the last eight, managing to sneak his horses in between 10st 10lb and 11st 2lb. He’s done it again today. And he’s bullish about North Island, the one he’s laid out for the race.
Ostland is unbeaten over fences including over CD, and a CD win also boosts the chances of Grand Slam Hero (last year’s winner) and Schindler’s Gold, as well as North Island.
Sonny Mullen could join North Island in a battle for the lead; both stay 3m well but North Island has that pull in the weights. Their pace could thin them out but also set it up for a hold-up horse. Kangaroo Court is the one among these with a touch of classy and with age on his side.
DAQMAN’S BETS
WIN-40 JACKPOT: 7.6pts win STREET ENTERTAINER, 3.8pts win LATERLEY and 0.6pts win and 1pt place SKYE BUT N BEN (2.05 Market Rasen)
BET (to win 20pts) 1.1pts win and place RETAINER (2.20 Newbury)
BET 1.25pts win and place CHARLESTON LADY (2.35 Newmarket)
BET 11pts win (nap) HEAVENLY DAWN (2.55 Newbury)
BET 3.7pts win GIVE YOUR VERDICT (3.10 Newmarket)
BET 6pts win EUREKA and 1.1pts win and place ON THE DARK SIDE (3.30 Newbury)
BET 2.9pts win NORTH ISLAND and 2.2pts win KANGAROO COURT (3.45 Market Rasen)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 2 x 2pt win doubles Street Entertainer and Skye But N Ben (2.05 Market Rasen) with Eureka and On The Dark Side (3.30 Newbury)
