It’s day 2 of the sparkling Chester May Meeting on Thursday afternoon and seven races will take place on The Roodee including the Dee Stakes and Ormonde Stakes. Our in-house tipster Steve Chambers is here to preview all the action and he picks out four tips across the afternoon’s racing…
1:30pm Chester – CAA Stellar Handicap
A dual winner at Chester, Robert Cowell’s DEMOCRACY DILEMMA can land the hat-trick in the opening 5f 15y contest. He ended last season landing a Chester victory for David Evans and since then he’s switched to the Cowell yard, who are renowned to be top notch with sprinters. He wasn’t disgraced when third at Meydan two starts ago, while he was down the field at Jebel Ali on his last start.
Now, returning to UK soil, the Cotai Glory four-year-old has been handed an attractive draw in stall 2 and while he’s 5lbs higher than that aforementioned win at Chester last season and he will have the burden of top weight here, he looks more than capable of going in again.
2:35pm Chester – Halliwell Jones Handicap
All eyes will be on the Sir Michael Stoute-trained hotpot Never So Brave in the 2:35pm race on Thursday, as the Freemason Lodge inmate has some top notch form in the book. Second to both Ancient Wisdom and Vandeek, he has some quality formlines and he was a winner last time out, so is entitled to be a warm order for this event.
However, Hugo Palmer’s GREY CUBAN was a runaway eight-length winner at Wolverhampton last time out in a novice stakes and he shaped like there’s a lot more to come. That was his sixth run, but he’s open to more improvement and a drop back in trip shouldn’t pose any major problems and if he can get on the front end in the early stages then he could well get the better of Never So Brave and is a much more attractive betting proposition.
3:05pm Chester – Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes
With a whopping ten wins in this race already, Aidan O’Brien is a man to follow in the Dee Stakes, which can sometimes unearth a potential Epsom Derby contender and the Ballydoyle supremo will unleash CAPULET in the 2024 renewal. Third in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket last season, he failed to fire on his first run this season when being beaten at Chelmsford, but he’s sure to strip fitter for that run.
Quite a few of O’Brien’s runners have disappointed this term, but the step up in trip is eye-catching for this son of Justify, who can bounce back from that all-weather loss and can claim victory here. The likes of God’s Window and Jayarebe have wins to their name already this season, but may not have the class of Capulet in this event.
3:40 Chester – tote.co.uk Supporting Racing Ormonde Stakes
A runaway six-and-a-half length winner of the Chester Vase last season, ARREST was expected to kick on and fight it out at the top table, but the John & Thady Gosden-trained son of Frankel failed to produce the goods on several occasions. He won the Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury and was second in the St Leger, but his first run this season was disappointing when seventh in the John Porter Stakes at Newbury.
Returning to Chester could be a huge positive as he showed a real classy display when romping to victory last season and this 1m 5f 84y contest looks to be tailor-made for him. The likes of Point Lonsdale and Deauville Legend are decent yardsticks, but may not have the class of Arrest, who can record a second win at the May meeting at Chester.
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