There is so much to like about Chester’s three-day May meeting ending today: a unique course with an atmosphere to match, quality racehorses, highly-competitive contests every day and much more besides. If you have never been to the Cheshire track situated on the outskirts of this cathedral city on the River Dee, put it on your to-do list now because it will not disappoint.
I have already put up one tip for today’s big race: the Chester Cup (3.40 p.m.). Zoffee, suggested at 16-1 a week ago, is less than half that price now and, in theory, he should benefit from his number one draw.
However, he tends to be held up so the danger is he may get stuck behind a wall of horses coming into the straight. As his trainer Hugo Palmer suggested after the draw was made on Wednesday, that’s when a supposedly favourable inside berth can suddenly become a disadvantage. However, that said, I am still hopeful of a big run.
I am going to go into the race double handed and suggest backing Palmer’s other horse in the race, SOLENT GATEWAY, who has a lovely draw in stall five. If he breaks well under jockey Saffie Osborne – who was victorious in this contest last year – he will almost certainly race prominently because he can run too freely if his jockey tries to restrain him too much.
Palmer, now based near Chester, is incredibly keen to land this race and Solent Gateway is down to a nice mark of 92 after two poor runs on the all weather. However, the horse is much better on turf and he has had a second bout of wind surgery too.
There was a lot to like about his final two runs last season when placed at York and Newbury. Back him each way at 12-1 with William Hill or Paddy Power, both still offering six places despite the field being down to 16 runners following the defection of The Shunter overnight.
There are any number of dangers to the Palmer pair in this race including the two Irish-trained raiders at the top of the weights for this two miles and two and a half furlong handicap. Falcon Eight and Magellan Strait both cross the Irish Sea with a chance having clearly been aimed at this race for some time. At the other end of the handicap, the four-year-old bottom weight Grand Providence should run a big race too in the hands of Hayley Turner.
I am also putting up a tip in the race before the Chester Cup, the oddly-named IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley Stakes (3.05 p.m.). The horse I like is the outsider of the field OVIEDO, who I had hoped would open his campaign this season in a handicap off his current mark of 105.
Ed Bethell’s charge was a desperately unlucky loser in his last season’s bet365 Cambridgeshire over Newmarket’s straight one mile one furlong course in September. Drawn disastrously in stall one in a 34-runner field that favoured horses drawn high, he ran a superb race to finish fourth that day, despite drifting badly left throughout the race. The three horses that beat him were drawn in stalls 35, 25 and 28 so he was the moral winner for sure.
In a Grade 2 non-handicap today, he is up against it racing against higher-rated rivals but he will love the quick ground and can progress this season having been gelded. Stall seven in not ideal but if he breaks well and races prominently, I hope that he will outrun his odds.
Of course, without a run this season, Oviedo’s fitness has to be taken on trust but I don’t think his shrewd handler would pitch him in to a contest this hot if he did not have him finely tuned for his seasonal debut. Back him each way at 14-1, with Paddy Power or Betfair. However, with two non runners overnight that now means there are just two places on offer in the seven-runner field.
As regular readers of this column will know, I can’t resist betting on the big handicaps on the Ascot straight course and invariably I like to tip runners with rock solid course and distance form in large fields. Ascot handicaps don’t come much more competitive that the Lavazza & Ascot Ten Year Anniversary Victoria Cup (tomorrow, 2.40 p.m.) run over seven furlongs on the straight course.
In-form North Yorkshire trainer David O’Meara loves nothing better than heading south to plunder big-race handicaps and I am hopeful of a huge run from PEARLE D’OR because I am sure he will come on for his first start of the season when down the field at Newmarket last month.
This five-year-old gelding is a course and distance winner having landed the Chapel Down Handicap at Ascot last July. He will have to race off a 9 lbs higher official mark of 90 tomorrow but he looks a real improver.
Indeed, O’Meara singled this horse out for praise in a Racing Post stable tour last month, saying the Victoria Cup was his target and adding, ‘If I’ve got a horse who could step up this year, he’s the one’. Back Pearle d’Or each way at 10-1 with Coral or Ladbrokes, both paying five places.
However, I am going to go into this race double-handed too, suggesting another bet on HICKORY, whose final three runs of last season were all in big-field handicaps at Ascot. He ran well without winning in all three races yet only went a couple of pounds in the handicap for those fine runs.
James Fanshawe’s gelding showed himself to be in good order when second in a Kempton handicap on the all weather last month and that was surely a prep race for this contest. Hickory goes well for jockey Saffie Osborne and so back him each way too at 10-1 with SkyBet, paying seven places, rather than other bookies offering a point more.
As with Chester, the draw at Ascot on the straight course is important but at the Berkshire track it is not always possible to know whether high or low number are favoured on any particular day. On quicker ground, high numbers are generally preferred by most trainers and jockeys which would mean Hickory has it all to do from stall six.
By the way, don’t give up on Ghostwriter after his fourth in the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket six days ago. Not only will he be better stepped up in trip but his run last weekend can be marked up because he clipped the heels of another runner early on and stumbled, and then he became unbalanced later on the course’s unique undulations.
His target, according to his trainer Clive Cox, is now the ‘French Derby’, the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly. Like me, Cox has certainly not lost confidence in the ability of his three-year-old colt, saying of Ghostwriter: ‘I’m full of confidence he’ll be a top-end performer.’
Pending:
1 point each way Oviedo at 14-1 in the Huxley Stakes, ¼ odds paying 2 places.
1 point each way Zoffee at 16-1 in the Chester Cup, ¼ odds paying 4 places.
1 point each way Solent Gateway at 12-1 in the Chester Cup, 1/5th odds paying 6 places.
1 point each way Pearle D’Or at 10-1 in the Victoria Cup, 1/5th odds paying 5 places.
1 point each way Hickory at 10-1 in the Victoria Cup, 1/5th odds paying 7 places.
Last weekend’s settled bets: – 4 points
1 point each way Ghostwriter at 16-1 in the 2000 Guineas. Unplaced. – 2 points.
1 point each way Night Raider at 16-1 in the 2000 Guineas. Unplaced. – 2 points.
2024 flat season running total – 4 points.
2023-4 jumps season: + 42.01 points on all tips.
2023 flat season: – 48.22 points on all tips.
2022-3 jumps season: + 54.3 points on all tips.
My gambling record for the past eight years: I have made a profit in 15 of the past 17 seasons to recommended bets. To a 1 point level stake over this period, the overall profit of has been 517 points. All bets are either 1 point each way or 2 points win (a ‘point’ is your chosen regular stake).
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