Chester - day one

The three day May meeeting at Chester, one of the most popular in the British calendar, starts today. The tight track, inside the old Rolamn walls, is known as the Roodee and there has been racing here for 500 years. The run-in is only 230 yards - easily the shortest in Britain - so it is essential to have a good position on the final bend and an outside draw here (high numbers) is a huge disadvantage. Today´s big races are the liste Cheshire Oaks at 15.15 CET and the Chester Cup at 15.45. The latter race, one of the most valuable staying races of the season, is run over more than 2 1/4 miles and the field passes the stands three times. The winning owner receives not only plenty of cash, but also a huge cheese, as Chrser is at the centre of the excellent British cheese industry. It is very much a race for specialists, so that Greenwich Meantime (Richard Fahey/ Paul Hanagan), who finished third here in 20 and won it last year, has to be on the short list. However the two to beat are probably the lightly-weighted Highland Legacy (Michael Bell/ Jamie Spencer) and Double Banded (John Dunlop/ Kerrin McEvoy), both of whom won in good style last time out. Barry Hills is always a trainer to be feared here and he can win the Cheshire Oaks with Sugar Mint, with son Michael in the saddle. Laughter (Sir Michael Stoute/ Ryan Moore) and Irish raider Sail (Aidan O´Brien/Johnny Murtagh) are the two main dangers, but both need to show improvement.