DAQMAN on Monday

Monday 6 October Daqman rues the day he read a scare story about his beloved Zarkava, leaving him with only Abbaye euros in his pocket (Marchand D’Or won 2-1) and even those came after a re-run. The Longchamp day of drama followed his Saturday stand against hot favourites Yeats and Darjina, two mighty lays that took him to a total of 137 successful. Back to bread-and-butter racing this week, and will he able to smash his own winning-bets century (100 wins in 32 days), with his current sequence now 84 in 24 days? Today he jumps ship with Frankie Dettori, rides an old warhorse at 13.5 on Betdaq and puts one up  for a Flat-and-hurdles double within the month. It will forever wrankle that I did not nap Zarkava yesterday. My entire column was constructed around her; then I read in the Sporting Life web-site that she was a doubtful runner because of heavy rain and adjusted my words accordingly. I had tipped the filly right up to the day but connections were reported as saying that a decision whether she would run would be made during “the under-races” (that’s a direct translation if ever I saw one). In fact, the speaker was in Chantilly where it had rained buckets overnight and was fearing the same had happened in Paris, where it had rained 1mm. It was all part of the pre-race nerves, which a professional punter learns to sift and knead but it got to me and I threw my dough away. Nerves didn’t get to Zarkava. She didn’t even prove a tad petulant on the day and ran the way I forecast: hemmed in on the rails; dropped out; ran right through the lot of them like a rapier. Not since Dancing Brave in 1986 have I seen a horse – colt or filly – which could cut them down on that cloth of gold that is Longchamp and take the crown from Group-1 princes as though they hadn’t a paper-knife among them to offer in defence. An equine Joan Of Arc. In fact, missing Zarkava will wrankle on the Richter scale at the same level of loss as when jockey Greville Starkey came too late on Dancing Brave and gave away the Epsom Derby by a nostril. Sorry to remind you of that, Greville (but I did enjoy your dog impressions). My highest stake yesterday then - a careful four points win because of the rain that didn’t fall - was on Marchand D’Or. Had I remained with Zarkava, I would have selected both major race winners on Sunday and rejected both of Saturday’s (I laid Yeats and Darjina). I’m talking ‘what-might-have-been’ to remind myself, as all good punters should, that, to get it right, it is often entirely a question of which favourites to support and which to oppose. And I’m reminding myself, as all punters should, that what you see with your own eyes is worth pounds to pebbles alongside what you read in the Press. I remember William Hill, himself, publicly giving that advice to punters. His sheckels were safe. He knew they wouldn’t listen. So I shall get back to the great debate, back to the bread-making machine and feed in a few crumbs of a bleak Monday in England. After the Lord Mayor’s Show and all that. Despite his long absence, Jack Dawkins (3.10 Pontefract) was going to be my banker based on good gallops reports, but Henry Cecil let me down with his hot-rods last week: a couple of short-priced favourites never really got into gear, and I see that his strike-rate has slackened to two wins from 21 runners in the last fortnight. I shall trust his record at Pontefract (43% in handicaps) but temper the bet to an each way, giving myself place insurance on the win stake. Godolphin also has a good record at the track and will probably pick up something with Zelloof, Veracity and Etosha, but note that Frankie Dettori jumps ship in the 2.40: off Zelloof and on to soft-ground winner Cyflymder. Veracity, placed in the Queens Vase and Goodwood Cup last year, may have needed the run at Chester after a lay-off but I wouldn’t want to take too short a price about him. Something, obviously, has been terribly wrong. Tazbar will be one to follow over hurdles but always runs well fresh and had a good record ‘on the flat’ (bumpers). That old warhorse Baddam has done nothing wrong since Ian Williams revitalized him: his effort in the Queen Alezandra came too quickly - four days after a decent run in the Ascot Stakes  - and, in between, he won the Goodwood Stakes. Mick Channon, who ran Baddam in this race last year, won it with a three-year-old, when Love Brothers beat Geordieland in a tactical race. Mick saddles another three-year-old, Dolly Penrose, but reckons she’s badly handicapped. I nipped in for some 13.5 Baddam each way on Betdaq but I’ll probably end up siding with Tazbar and marking him down for a quick hurdles success within the month. It’s a tricky card at Warwick but Baron Otto (3.50) seems to have his race hand picked for him; home reports are good since the debut in a decent Newbury maiden. Gerard Butler is four out of seven in Warwick handicaps and his lightly-raced Beauchamp Wizard (4.50), 6.4 on Betdaq as I write, may have most to fear from Andamana Sunset - trading at 9.8 - back to form and likely to improve further in blinkers. Cheviot (3.00 Windsor) has winners all around him in the form-book, and Michael Jarvis seems to have been the architect of this nursery as he makes yet another clever placing. I see the only black mark that the Trading Post can find is the slower ground but, being related to Gossamer and Barathea on the dam’s side, he may actually prefer it.
TODAY'S BETS
BET 1pt win and place CYFLYMDER (2.40 Pontefract) BET 4pts win CHEVIOT (3.00 Windsor) BET 2pts win and place JACK DAWKINS (3.10 Pontefract) BET 1pts win and place on each BADDAM and TAZBAR (3.40 Pontefract) BET 4pts win BARON OTTO (3.50 Warwick) BET 1pt win and place on each BEAUCHAMP WIZARD and ANDAMAN SUNSET (4.50 Warwick)
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