Chester May Meeting starts today

Chester´s May fixture is always one of the most enjoyable meetings of the year and there is always a tremendous atmosphere at this historic track inside the old Roman walls.The Roodee racetrack dates back to the 16th century and is the tightest in Britain, only a mile in circumference, and the runners in the most famous race, the Chester Cup, a 2 1/4 mile handicap run today at15.45 CET, pass the winning post 3 times. There are various rules for betting at Chester and one is to ignore any horse drawn higher than 10, a huge disadvantage, so 7 of the Chester Cup runners can be immediately discarded. Some trainers specialise in the races here, notably Tom Dascombe and Andfrew Hollinshead, who both train nearby, but Richard Fahey, Andrew Balding and Charlie Hills are others to shine here, while Aidan O´Brien often runs his better 3yo s in the various classic trials here.

Another rule is to back all horses owned by Dr. Marwan Koukash, easily the top owner here, but this is not so easy, as he has 5 runners in the Cup! Two of them are trained by Fahey, who saddled the first two last year, with Angel Gabriel (Jamie Spencer) preferred in the betting to Duke of Clarence (David Nolan), both of them running over such a long trip for the first time. The latter is however better drawn. This is a really tricky race, but our short list of 3 consists of Communicator (Andrew Balding/ Oisin Murphy), Suegioo (Marco Botti/ Ryan Moore) and Mubaraza (Ed Dunlop/ Paul Hanagan), all well drawn and from top stables.

The listed Cheshire Oaks at 15.15 is the classiest race on the card and has often enough seen subsequent Epsom Oaks performers at the start. Today´ s race should mainly concern Bright Approach (John Gosden/ William Buick), an impressive maiden winner at Newbury on her debut but facing better opposition now, and Terrific (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien), from the stable that has won this 3 times in tne last 6 years. Psychometry (Sir Michael Stoute/ Moore) ia another danger, but we choose the more experienced Irish filly, though it is not clear where she stands in the O´Brien pecking order. Gosden and Buick probably have better prospects in the 3yo maiden at 16.50 with the beautifully-bred Prince of Stars.

There are also a couple of really hot 5 furlongs races on the card which are bound to be run at a furious pace. CD experience is a big advantage here, so we choose Ballista (Tom Dascombe/ Richard KIngscote) at 16.15 and Masamah (Botti/ Spencer) at 17.25.