DAQMAN on Sunday

Sunday 23 November TWELVE LAYS IN A ROW: Daqman did it yet again yesterday, laying into hot-pot Crack Away Jack with Choma Womba (won 2-1) as his trump card in the big race at Ascot. Crack Away Jack (2nd 2-1) was part of a sequence of 12 consecutive successful lays and it was his second double-whammy in two days, after a 9-4 winner and 11-8 on lay in the same race on Friday. It was two lays out of two on Friday when he also nailed a 6-4 favourite, and it was two out of two again yesterday when he bismarcked Palarshan (unplaced 7-2 favourite). With 18 winning bets in three days, Daqman is set to smash his fastest-century record: he recently grabbed 100 in only 27 days but now needs just five wins by Wednesday to do the trick in 26 or less.    The bet today at Aintree is not in the big chases themselves but on the Grand National, ante-post with Betdaq, particularly if you fancy one of the Paul Nicholls’ runners, Gwanako, Gungadu or Mr Pointment, in ‘the real thing’ next year. From the two ‘mini-Nationals’ this afternoon – the Grand Sefton and Becher chases - here’s what I could get on Betdaq for the same runners in April: 34-1 Irish Raptor, 36-1 Idle Talk, 37-1 Himalayan Trail, 50-1 Mr Pointment, 67-1 Gungadu, 97-1 A New Story, 107-1 Black Apalachi, 127-1 Gwanako and 197-1 Ponmeoath. The only horses currently quoted in public by bookmakers for April are (best prices): 25-1 Himalayan Trail, 33-1 Gwanako, 40-1 Gungadu, Irish Raptor, 50-1 Mr Pointment and Ponmeoath, with the Nicholls’ trio a total of 121 points worse than Betdaq offers. The two winners today will be drastically reduced in all markets: Gwanako could come down around 100 points from his towering 127-1; Mr Pointment and Gungadu by some 25 points. Massive ‘overs’. My view? Well, I’ve given you five ‘nuggets’ in the last week – horses with a golden future – and had four winners and a third on the day, and I’m satisified that all five will go on to better things. Though it’s the least tempting in any ante-post market, my Aintree ‘nugget’ is Himalayan Trail from the same stable that produced Montys Pass to win the Grand National in 2003. Himalayan Trail (2.50) is not going to be punished today, since it’s his first try at the Aintree fences; a handful in the race have already been there, done that and Mr Pointment got the tea-shirt (or should that be yellow jersey) as last year’s Becher winner. Paul Nicholls makes betting on that race difficult today by running both Gungadu and Mr Pointment but his sole runner, Gwanako, in the Grand Sefton has the easier task: there’s very little substance in the race, with the presence of Turpin Green creating a gaping five-stone long-handicap and leaving five of them out in the cold, one of them 44lb out of the handicap. Gwanako (1.40) is the only one known to be able to handle these fences unscathed, though Iron Man was running well in the Becher last year when he fell and Brendan Powell hopes it’s third time lucky for Which Pocket whose current Aintree record reads like a rugby scrum: brought down; knocked sideways twice. The stables with superb Grand National records, those of McCain and Twiston-Davies, have a runner in each mini-National and I wouldn’t put you off an each-way bet on any of them but I think Gwanako stands out in the Sefton and ‘Himalayan’ is my each-way bet in the Becher to get on the Aintree Trail. We start a day of National dreams with the appropriately named Fairyland (12.30) who should have too much experience for some interesting hopefuls in the maiden hurdle: my man in the long grass says Fairyland is one of the nicer types in the yard and has been working extremely well.   He’s put the slide-rule on Caravel, the Cambridgeshire seventh, and worries that he’s too ‘keen’, which would stop him getting the trip: sprinter Geojimali will also need to adjust and bumper winner Honest John looks the main concern. Glingerbank (1.05) was a ‘nugget’ way back, but met with problems and only recently ‘came back’: I would love to see Nicky Richards’ patience rewarded, particularly after taking 10.0 on Betdaq this morning. Half the field for the handicap hurdle have been absent 200 days or more; of those that go well fresh, Sunday City is getting straight again for his chasing career and Good Spirit’s stable form gives no encouragement for a quick resumption to the kind of ability that earned him a place in the Arkle. Knockavilla could redeem himself after last week’s fall and King Caine looks booked for a place but, though the stable is not yet fully firing, the grey Triumph Hurdle sixth Serabad (2.15) looks worth following dropped to handicaps: at 7.0 on Betdaq as I write, he’s worth the risk each way. I shall have a pound on Aim For The Stars (3.35 Towcester) after Henry Daly’s return to form with two winners and three placed from seven runners on Saturday. Back to the stars of the day: as well as Aintree, we have the Troytown at Navan and the usual Irish bog: that’s why no winner has carried more than 11st 1lb in the last decade nor as far back as I can remember. I shall dutch Operation Houdini (8.4 on Betdaq this morning; 3pts win), proven at the trip in the conditions and still well handicapped, and Hold The Pin (7.0 to 4pts win) from Tony Martin’s winning stable of last year; ‘Pin’ would have held them in a stamina test at Punchestown but for a last-fence fall and hasn’t been using that stamina over inappropriate trips since.
TODAY'S BETS
BET 6pts win FAIRYLAND (12.30 Aintree) BET 1pt win and place GLINGERBANK (1.05 Aintree) BET 6pts win GWANAKO (1.40 Aintree) BET 2pts win and place SERABAD (2.15 Aintree) DUTCH to win 20pts HOLD THE PIN and OPERATION HOUDINI (2.30 Navan) BET 2pts win and place HIMALAYAN TRAIL (2.50 Aintree) BET 2pts win and place AIM FOR THE STARS (3.35 Towcester) ANTE-POST: 1pt win HIMALAYAN TRAIL (Grand National 2009)
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