
As we move swiftly on to Day 2 of the Chester May Festival, I have another four betting tips for you, which make up our second Lucky 15 of the meeting. Now, something I will say about Chester is that it’s a very sharp left-handed track. It definitely suits those drawn in the low numbers, simply because those runners cover a lot less distance, especially in the longer races here.
That means it’s very important to find horses that either have course form, or form at other courses going left-handed as Chester is notoriously tricky, especiall so for first-timers. The four I have picked for Thursday look solid to me in that respect and I think we will get a good run from all of them before we head into Friday’s action.
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My first selection for Thursday’s Lucky 15 comes in the opener, where we have a competitive five furlong sprint. And take it from me, the draw will be a big factor in the result of this race. Copper Knight and Vintage Clarets both hold solid claims, but I think they both are better-suited to straight tracks, which has me leaning towards Roman Dragon, running for Hugo Palmer.
He is a course winner over six furlongs, has gone really close over five furlongs previously and being drawn in Stall 1 could work out perfectly for him. He has a 2lb swing from top-weight Democracy Dilemma, ground to suit and generally breaks well. On slower ground I might have gone a different way, but on this occasion I see Roman Dragon as the one to beat here.
The Jones Handicap is just short of a mile and there are some nice horses in the lineup who are open to plenty of improvement. Gunfighter is a horse that interests me going forward. He moves nicely, and when the penny drops for him, he will put in a big performance. Let’s put it this way, you wouldn’t want to be alongside him in a battle, because he is very game, but I don’t believe that he’s our winner here.
My pick is Sir Michael Stoute’s runner,
Real Dream, with Ryan Moore in the saddle and he looks obviously well treated.
He put in a really strong speed figure on his first start of the season at Thirsk just under three weeks ago and a mark of 94 underestimates his ability. I think we will see some nice performances in this race, but Real Dream just looks too well-handicapped to ignore.
The Boodles Stakes has just five runners and it would be easy to make a case for all of them. Capulet represents Ballydoyle’s best hope, but he was beaten last time out by Bracken’s Laugh, who won in stylish fashion coming from off the pace and the step up trip could work back in his favour. He was tried over this trip as a two-year-old, and found it a bit too much. However, he should stay better this time, being a year older.
I think the one to beat here is John Gosden's flashy Dubawi colt, God's Window, who won at a canter last time out and even though that piece of form isn’t anything to shout about, he won by over eight lengths without putting in any effort at all. He was given a mark of 111 for that run, but looks open to plenty on top of that number and the experience will certainly have done him good. He really could be anything and he has it all in his favour here.
The final leg of Thursday’s Lucky 15 comes in the Ormonde Stakes, where Arrest sets a good standard on his best form and should be hard to beat. Ballydoyle have put up Point Lonsdale, who looks like a horse coming back into form based on his latest start over in Meydan, where he was just five lengths back off Rebel Romance. That seemed to look like a step back in the right direction, and he isn’t without a chance. Another positive for Point Lonsdale is that he won the Group 2 Huxley stakes here at Chester, but that was over a shorter distance.
As a five-year-old, Deauville Legend is one that holds a lot of interest too, and the time to catch him could be first time out. Ultimately though I think Arrest will prove too good for this field and he is still open to more improvement than most in this race. He hasn’t always been the most consistent, but he has bags of class and he won the Chester Vase here last year, so I think he sets the standard based on that run.
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