CLASS THE KEY TO SUCCESS AT HUGE ODDS: Five wins in a row; nine out of 10. Yet these prolific winners were forgotten by punters and just last weekend ‘turned up’ at 20-1 and 66-1. Daqman has a key word for what to look for in seeking out these Hidden Horses. Class.
DAQMAN IS HOLDING COURT AGAIN TODAY: Winner-a-day Daqman paid for his Monday bets with Court Jurado (WON 100-30). Today DAQMAN sticks with the same strategy of three bets – aiming for one to cover the day.
BIG WINNERS HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT
Class will out. Punters have short memories. Add those two racing adages together and you have the makings of some decent bets at big prices when you seek out Hidden Horses.
I don’t mean so-called ‘dark horses’, which are those we know little or nothing about, particularly those with scant form and lots of potential.
‘Hidden horses’ we know about but don’t have the patience of their trainer to wait until they are right nor are we in his position to place them to our advantage.
He’s not likely to tell us where or when, so we have to be on the lookout for them and class is the key. Take these two recent winners:
WON 66-1 Yorkhill One-time rated 164 after nine wins out of 10; won two years running at the Cheltenham festival in the Neptune hurdle and the JLT chase.
Lost his way in 2017-18 but scored the following year at the Galway festival with the money suddenly down. Once there’s a move for a Willie Mullins horse, the lemmings rush in.
Yorkhill lost form again, and left Mullins for Sandy Thomson in Northumberland where the trainer lavished his care and expertise on giving Yorkhill his mojo back, helped by jockey Ryan Mania.
Ryan, himself, had been in the doldrums, until getting back in the saddle and linking up with Auroras Encore, forgotten horse in the 2013 Grand National, also at 66-1.
Aurora won for that fine horsewoman Sue Smith, a recognised exponent of the art of patience and preparing a horse long term.
Yorkhill went into the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle on Saturday off a 142 rating, and his old class and renewed love of the game saw him back to form on Saturday. And he’s still only 10.
WON 20-1 Theo It’s certainly helpful to have on your side a trainer like Sue Smith or Sandy Thomson. And who’s better for a handicap coup than Dr Richard Newland, who pulled off this strike on Sunday.
In his first two months with Newland in 2017, Theo won five in a row, hurdles and chases; then, in the autumn of the following year, stepped up in Grade and won back-to-back chases.
Sixth in the Grand Annual but big prices in 2019-20 on soft ground. Theo comes alive after a break and he prefers a sound surface, with form figures since November 2016 with ‘good’ as the going return of 144011110020421.
WRITE HOME ABOUT PEN
⭕ 2.00 Southwell With 12 winners in last fortnight Paul Nicholls isn’t needing to rely on lady luck too much at the moment and the momentum may continue at Southwell this afternoon with Lucky One.
The form of his Uttoxeter second last time out stacks up well in the context of this race but he ran freely at Uttoxeter and no additional headgear is applied today.
Harry Cobden takes over in the saddle and he is dropped in distance but does need to settle more and not throw away energy.
Pencreek has come in for some early support on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE and looks the bet. He ran really well in a decent Newbury novices’ hurdle on debut – where he went off at 125/1.
That was a big effort and he can strike here for Ben Pauling.
The debutant Gylo obviously merits respect representing the Skeltons – he rattled off a hat-trick on the flat – but all wins came on good or better ground and he is probably best watched after a lengthy absence on a softer surface.
EASY FOR EASKEY
⭕ 3.32 Southwell A very competitive handicap hurdle concludes the card but there is a standout for me in Easkey Lad.
Now a five-year-old, he is only starting to show some decent form and his two efforts after a lengthy break have been encouraging. In particular, his second at Hereford last time out where he would have got closer to the winner but for his jockey dropping his whip close home.
Quite rightly the handicapper has kept him on the same mark of 92 after that effort and with several of his main market rivals appearing to be out of form he gets a golden opportunity to record his first win.
Adelphi Prince is another maiden over hurdles but shaped OK when fourth at Ayr last time out, beaten less than 10 lengths in what looked a better class race than this. He could be the danger.
EAGLE EYED DAQMAN SPOTS NAP
⭕ 7.00 Wolverhampton David Evans has saddled winners at the last two meetings here contributing to an excellent recent strike-rate of 6 wins from his last 33..
That can be boosted by Regal Eagle who ran a cracker on his stable debut here last month when a close up fifth to Critical Thinking. He ran on in the closing stages – so the step up trip looks sensible and he also stayed on well when winning over seven at Dundalk when trained by John Oxx. Hollie Doyle rides tonight and their claims looks solid.
Hunters Step won over this trip at Newcastle in October but has looked in the grip of the handicapper in two subsequent starts back at the track.
DAQMAN’S BETS (staked to win 10 points)
BET 3.6pts win PENCREEK (2.00 Southwell)
BET 2.0pts win EASKEY LAD (3.32 Southwell)
BET 6.9pts win (nap) ROYAL EAGLE (7.00 Wolverhampton)
What are points? Points facilitate a staking plan, which is the secret to creating profit. One point is whatever you choose: a pound, a euro, or whatever ….
Start with a bank and decide how much you can afford to lose over a period of time, and determine the size of your bets accordingly. Daqman makes this variation every day.
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