Chester Cup Day completes this year’s Chester May Festival, and read below to see my three selections for Friday’s action.
Yesterday was a nice day for the column as Copper Knight crossed the line in the money with the firms paying four places, and Mount Kilimanjaro duly obliged at 7/4 in the Dee Stakes.
Let’s hope we can continue this momentum.
Chester May Festival Day 3
1:30 Chester – Two Tempting @ 4/1 with William Hill – 1pt Win
On his return to Chester, a previous winning track, I’ll play Two Tempting as a win-only proposition.
His last win came at the track in August 2024 when he won off a mark of 95, so with a one-pound higher mark, he looks reasonably weighted to go well in this field.
Speaking of that Chester win last year, he has Divine Libra, Gorak, Yanifer, and Spirit Genie covered on that piece of form, and the fourth, Carrytheone, went on to land the Balmoral Handicap on British Champions Day.
Furthermore, he should be one of the fittest horses with his three runs since the start of March, and five of his opponents are racing for the first time this season.
He ran a fine race on his return to the turf at Newbury last month, and stall one is a big positive. He actually won that Chester contest from stall seven last year, but he got into a good early position. He shouldn’t have to work so hard to find that good position from tomorrow’s stall.
I do like to play each-way horses in handicaps like this, but I can’t see many angles, so Two Tempting is the bet.
2:35 Chester – The Foxes @ 6/4 with William Hill – 1.5pt Win
I think the Group 2 Huxley Stakes is between the top two in the market, but The Foxes is the one I want to be with.
Both he and Space Legend are having their first runs after a break, but The Foxes is running after 82 days and Space Legend is back after a 261-day stint on the sidelines.
Across his last three runs, he bolted up on the all-weather at Newcastle when beating Dubai Honour, he finished fourth to Romantic Warrior and Liberty Island in the Hong Kong Cup, and he finished a good second to Rebel’s Romance in the H H The Amir Trophy.
That form is really good, and he’s very good on nicer ground, whereas Space Legend has won on soft before. Space Legend did run a fine race at Royal Ascot on good to firm, and the Sea The Stars influence on his sire’s side gives him a good ground influence, but I’m not overly sold on his attitude in the finish.
The Foxes gets in here without a penalty, and stall one is nice. I think he’ll win this.
3:05 Chester – Divine Comedy @ 12/1 with William Hill (5 places) – 0.5pt EW
The Chester Cup, naturally, is a competitive race, so it’s hard to be strong on one, especially with the amount of bad luck any horse can experience around the track, but I’m chancing Divine Comedy as she could be the classic Group horse in a handicap.
I don’t like using that phrase very often because, well, I usually get it wrong when I say it, but the seven-year-old mare by Le Havre is clearly in good form this season.
Harry Eustace’s six-time winner started her campaign with a staying-on second to Al Qareem in the Listed Further Flights Stakes at Nottingham, and that piece of form got a boost yesterday when Al Qareem finished second to Illinois in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes.
She then went to Ascot for the Group 3 Solario Stakes where she had to make all in a four-runner race. She was a sitting duck for Yashin and Coltrane, but she still rallied for pressure and wasn’t disgraced at all at the finish.
Her mark of 101 is four pounds higher than the rating she had when second at Royal Ascot in the Ascot Stakes, and that race was over 2m4f, so she should stay this 2m2f task.
I’m going to chance her at the prices.
