Espresso restores Daily Bargain's fortunes

2023-05-31

After a dismal opening to 2023, Daily Bargain bounced back in May posting a 10-point yield, which earned top position in the month’s Besttipping Challenge. Probets finished second with a yield of 1.71 points while the Personal Info duo, Mainline and Saturday-Only recorded matching profits of 0.66 points.

The final margin of victory was decisive, but for much of the month there was little to choose between all four services. Then Daily Bargain hit peak form, finding three winners in the last ten days to pull ahead. It was the multiple champ’s first monthly title since December, breaking a sequence of three consecutive winning months for stablemate Probets.

Last month, Daily Bargain struggled, posting a solitary winner on the way to a 20-point reversal. May began in similar fashion with nine straight losers before Danger Alert soothed nerves with a 9/1 success at Chester (10 May). This was followed by another Chester winner, 6/1 Revich, forty-eight hours later.  A sequence of nine losers ended with Glamorous Breeze (13/2, Windsor, 22 May) and Espressoo (9/1, Ayr, 23 May) ensured that the month would end with a profit.

May drew to a close with a sequence of placed efforts followed by the final day victory of 11/2 Golden Sands at Beverley. This, the fifth winner of the month, pushed the profit to 10-points, the best return of 2023.

Probets called correctly on eight occasions, including a sequence of four winners in four days, but losing runs of nine and seven caused the profit to shrink to less than two points. Winners included: Appier (100/30, Newcastle, 2 May), Dream Composer (7/2, Goodwood, 5 May), Dubai Jeanius (3/1, Southwell, 8 May), Ladies Church (4/1, Naas, 21 May) and H Key Lails (7/2, Wolverhampton, 23 May).

Probets positive return was the fourth from five so far this year, a figure matched by Personal Info’s Mainline and Saturday-Only services.

Personal Info began May by advising the 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean (6/1, Newmarket, 6 May) and the month finished with Personal Info’s biggest bet for some time, a five-point plunge on 11/8 Little Big Bear in Haydock’s Sandy Lane Stakes (27 May). Happily, the gamble paid off as the Aidan O’Brien-trained colt scored handily by one and a quarter- lengths.  

Incidentally, both Chaldean and Little Big Bear were partnered by soon-to-be retired Frankie Dettori.

Probets remain well clear in the 2023 Besttipping table. The lead over second placed Personal Info is more than 17 points with Daily Bargain trailing the leader by more than 45 points. At the same point in 2022, the difference between the two Steve Jones services was more than 69 points; by the end of July Probets lead had stretched to almost 112 points. And yet it was Daily Bargain who prevailed. In other words, nothing can be taken for granted, especially if Personal Info continue to find five-point winners of the calibre of Little Big Bear.