FOUR HOLIDAY WINNERS FOR DAQMAN: Our top tipster Daqman survived the mass of meetings on Bank Holiday Monday with a break-even day of four winners: McMurrough (WON 11-4, tipped at 5.8 on BETDAQ), Wyldfire (WON 7-2), Dressedtothenines (WON 9-4) and Springinherstep (WON 5-4).

GRAND NATIONAL HISTORY-MAKER: TODAY: Ahead of their bid for Aintree glory with Seabass, Ted and Katie Walsh, already a history-maker when placed last year, combine for a ‘Star’ bet in the handicap hurdle at Fairyhouse.

GRAND NATIONAL SHOCK CHANGES: TOMORROW: Daqman spots the surprising ways the National has changed in his ABC special with the ‘X’ Factor for Saturday’s big race.

GRAND NATIONAL KICK-OFF: THURSDAY: They’re off at Aintree! Daqman will go race by race through the card, with his expert analysis and knack of spotting the jackpot value.


There was a bit of an April Fools going on at Fairyhouse yesterday. Punters blaming the results on drying ground – in fact, the track claimed ‘yielding’ going for a large part of the course – should look at the times of the races. They were big by up to 43 seconds.

My day was dashed when Mallowney fell and you can’t expect to find 50-1 National winners from nowhere. But we should be able to expect some better going descriptions in these days of technology.

Whinge over, the racing at Fairyhouse is very tricky today, and it seems crazy to look at the 23-runner handicap hurdle for a bet, but top-class five-year-olds have won this, Macs Joy (2004) on the way to taking the Swinton, and the winner almost always comes from the lightweights.

The Seabass connection, Ted and Katie Walsh, reckon Summer Star good enough to go for a big hurdle like the Swinton, if only her jumping would improve.

Summer Star (4.35) gets left behind, because she is a bit deliberate at her hurdles, but the mare has had bags in hand, running loose off her low handicap mark, and able to scoot through the tired horses for back-to-back wins.

She’s up 6lb for her last success at Leopardstown (on yielding ground, whatever that is) but that’s precisely the amount of her step up in class from a 108-135 hurdle to one topped today by the 141-rated Fosters Cross; she, in fact, carries only an extra pound off 114 and had horses rated up to 116 well behind her at Leopardstown.

Horses in the bottom 11 equivalent of today’s handicap have won the race eight times in the last nine years, implying that her main rivals will be Sizing Machine and Barneys Honour.

‘Barney’ seems to need deep ground (if only we knew the truth about today’s conditions) and, in any case, has it all to do to turn around Navan form with Mount Colah.

The unexposed Sizing Machine (13.0 on BETDAQ) is now weighted to pose a threat to Summer Star but the question jockey Andrew Lynch has to answer is whether to give the gelding his head (all the way winner at Down Royal) or wait with him.

Sizing Machine was ‘nearest at the finish’ when held up in Summer Star’s race on the last day, and the runner-up, Captain Arceus, is said to appreciate the better ground, if indeed that’s what we have. That race seems to hold the key to this.

Gordon Elliott is a worry with three runners. Apart from Barney’s Honour, the most obvious one, first-time-blinkered Shadow Catcher, is from the County Hurdle, the form of which was let down by Tennis Cap yesterday.

The other Elliott hope, Beef To The Heels, was beaten by King Of Queens over today’s CD and that one finished well adrift of Summer Star and Captain Arceus a month ago.

EXETER races at a reasonable level (two class-3s and some class-4 races) and tells us the ground is good to soft but good in places.

Only one or two races are standard on this card, with the three past results of the handicap hurdle (2.40) telling us to stick with young horses.

That’s not a very big sample but it coincides with the BETDAQ-market prediction this morning that the race is between two six-year-olds, Saroque (at 6.6) and Lord Protector.

I’m not sure about Lord Protector: punters have supported a string of Hobbs’ horses in the last fortnight but, of nine that have been between 10-11 and 6-1 at SP, just two have won, none in the last week.

Not a good strike-rate and all nine horses behind Hobbs’ Lord Protector when he ran second in a maiden at Sandown are still maidens.

Saroque’s win at Wetherby was impressive in that he always travelled strongly and gave 19lb and 24lb respectively to the second and third (dual winner since).

Watergate Boy went on the drift this morning and Ballinahow Star, who probably has the best form in the book, must have had a problem as she has had to miss the mares’ finale, and other obvious targets, and hasn’t been seen since December.

SOUTHWELL Beauchamp Xerxes (5.20) has a penalty for a runaway win at Lingfield but I don’t think that, or the easier surface, will slow him down.

He has five older horses running against him, three out of the handicap, and two from stables on the Racing Post ‘cold list.’ The draw is also on his side.

KEMPTON Paul Cole has a rare AW runner, Bluegrass Blues (2.30), subject of strong support this morning, despite the fear of runaway tactics from Pearl Bridge, first time in blinkers.

DAQMAN’S BETS
BET 3.5pts win SAROQUE (2.40 Exeter)
BET 3.8pts win SUMMER STAR and 1.6pts win on each CAPTAIN ARCEUS and SIZING MACHINE (4.35 Fairyhouse)
BET 10pts win (nap) BEAUCHAMP XERXES (5.20 Southwell)
DAQ MULTIPLES: 2pts win double Bluegrass Blues (2.30 Kempton) and Beauchamp Xerxes (5.20 Southwell)
‘EARLY BIRD’ HORSES TO FOLLOW: Aldwick Bay (4.00 Kempton)


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