Chester May Meeting: second day

the Chester May Meeting goes into its second day with the Chester Vase for 3yo´s over 1 1/2 miles at 15.45 CET the main feature. This is a recognised Derby trial and Aidan O´Brien, who has won this race 4 times in the last 7 years, took it last year with Ruler of the World, who went on to score at Epsom. The great Shergar also won this race en route to Epsom. O´Brien now has 2 runners, Orchestra, ridden by our favourite jockey Ryan Moore, and Carlo Bugatti, ridden by the trainer´s favourite jockey, his son Joseph. Neither look superstars and the stable´s main Derby hope is surely Australia, 3rd last week in the 2,000 Guineas. We find it impossible to split them and therefore choose German-bred Scotland (Andrew Balding/ Jim Crowley), who as a son of Monsun will love the ground which is now much softer after yesterday´s rain.

The soft going will also suit Noble Mission (Lady Cecil/ James Doyle) in today´s other group race, the Huxley Stakes over 10 furlongs at 15.15. This one stays much better than his fill brother Frankel and was a very easy winner at Sandown from Telescope (Sir Michael Stoute/ Moore). The latter, who was fancied for last year´s Derby, is now 3 lbs better off and will probably finish much closer this time. This race could be tactically quite tricky with 3 front-runners in the field, one of them being Highland Knight (Balding/ David Probert), one of our favourite horses since winning at Baden-Baden 2 years ago. He was runner-up here last year and meets his conqueror Danadana (Luca Cumani/ Andrea Atzeni) on slightly better forms, but that one also has to be considered.

As we suggested yesterday, horses owned by Dr.Marwan Koukash should always be followed at this meeting, and he duly took the first two places in the Chester Cup. He has several runners again today; his best chance is probably in the 7 furlongs for 3yo´s at 16.15, when he has two runners Our Gabrial (Jamie Spencer) and Brian Noble (Graham Lee), both trained by Richard Fahey. The trainer can also take the 2yo maiden at 16.50 with Ballymore Castle (Paul Hanagan), whose third place at Newbury is clearly the best form on offer here.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Gabrial The Great - Sennockian Star - Wigmore Hall
2. Race: Telescope - Noble Mission - Ektihaam
3. Race: Carlo Bugatti - Orchestra - Romsdal
4. Race: Muteela - Captain Bob - Hot Coffee
5. Race: Ballymore Castle - London Life - Beacon
6. Race: Thataboy - Jazz - Kickboxer
7. Race: Memory Cloth - Spes Nostra - Stellar Express