Chester May meeting starts today

The May meeting starts today - one of the most popular fixtures in thecalendar. The Roodeye racetrack, used for racing since the 16th century, is inside the old Roman walls and extremely tight - the runners for the Chester Cup, today´s main feature and a valuable 2 1/4 mile handicap at 15.35 CET, go past the winning post 3 times. An inside draw is a huge advantage here and our advice is not to back anything drawn higher than 10.

Even leaving out the badly drawn runners (which includes O´Brien, Cecil and Johnston candidates) the race still looks very tricky, but our fancy is bottom-weight Shubaat (Roger Varian/ Dominic Fox), a lightly-raced son of Monsun who won in good style at Musselburgh last time. He is up in trip and grade here, but we think he is up to the task. Last years winner Overturn (Donald McCain/ Eddie Ahern), a strong front-runner and also a top-class hurdler, is an obvious danger despite his big weight, and Mark Johnston´s second string Eternal Heart (Joe Fanning) and longshot Kiama Bay (John Quinn/ Tom Eaves) also make our short list.

The main supporting feature is the listed Cheshire Oaks for 3yo fillies at 15.05, for which Betterbetterbetter (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) is a clear favourite following an easy win in Dundalk. But this is a much tougher race and we are not at all sure that Joseph can do the weight. Cubanita (Ralph Beckett/ Jim Crowley), Inchina (Roger Charlton/ James Doyle) and the Shirocco daughter Zaina (Gerald Butler/ Dane O´Neill) are possible each-way alternatives. There are also two very open 5 furlong races on the card, a handicap at 16.05 and a conditions race at 17.15. Our selections here are respectively Star Rover (David Evans/ Andrea Atzeni) and Duchess Dora (John Quinn/ Tom Queally).

Finally punters should bear in mind that Chester lies in the centre of one of the U.K.´s richest areas, and Premier League footballers in particular are at home here. Local trainer Tom Dascombe´s yard is owned by Michael Owen,
who runs Third Half in the 3yo handicap at 17.45 that was won last year by his half-brother Brown Panther. In the opening 2yo race at 14.35 stable companion Pippy, also partnered by Richard Kingscote, makes his debut. He is owned by Wayne Rooney and while horses obviously do not who their owners are, we still think this pair should be backed.