Chester

There wasn't a great deal left for Aidan O'Brien to achieve at Chester's marquee May Festival, but Thursday saw him register another historic feat as he completed an unprecedented clean sweep of the opening two day's black-type events. Already responsible for the winners of the G3 Chester Vase, Listed Cheshire Oaks and Listed Dee Stakes, all ridden by Ryan Moore, he was able to fulfil the quota with Illinois in the G3 Ormonde Stakes. Sent off the 6-5 favourite having his first start of the season under a five-pound penalty,...

Thursday, Chester, post time: 15:05, LADBROKES BIG-VALUE YOU CAN BET ON ORMONDE STAKES-G3, £140,000, 4yo/up, 13f 84yT Field: Illinois (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Al Qareem (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}), Absurde (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), Mondo Man (GB) (Mondialiste {Ire}), Mount Atlas (GB) (Masar {Ire}), Roaring Legend (Fr) (Roaring Lion). TDN Verdict: Aidan O'Brien is gradually taking control of this May Festival as Barry Hills once did and he could have the outright record in this race if Illinois makes last year's form count. Responsible for six winners so far, the master of...

Chester's May Festival is all about Ballydoyle these days and they were at it again on Wednesday's opening fixture with Lambourn bringing up a feature-race double in the G3 Chester Vase. Like the yard's preceding Cheshire Oaks winner Minnie Hauk, the G3 Ballysax Stakes runner-up was well-supported and with Ryan Moore able to gain a prominent pitch behind the leading pair soon after the start the writing was already on the wall. In the end, it was the Charlie Johnston-trained G3 Prix de Conde winner Lazy Griff who had most to say about...

Entering Wednesday's Listed Cheshire Oaks with great expectations, Ballydoyle's €1.85 million 2023 Goffs Orby Book 1 topper Minnie Hauk duly delivered to enter the Oaks picture. Sent off the 13-8 favourite for the extended 11-furlong trial for that Epsom Classic, the daughter of Frankel tended to race a touch lazily behind the pace-setter Queen Of Thieves but was able to answer every call from Ryan Moore to take command inside the final three furlongs. Sticking to her task in the home straight, the relative of Kingman and Oasis Dream had a length to...

Wednesday, Chester, post time: 15:05, BOODLES CHESTER VASE STAKES-G3, £140,000, 3yo, 12f 63yT Field: Convergent (Ire) (Fascinating Rock {Ire}), Faire La Nouba (Ire) (River Boyne {Ire}), Further (Ire) (Waldgeist {GB}), Lambourn (Ire) (Australia {GB}), Lazy Griff (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}), Pinhole (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Square D'Alboni (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}), Thrice (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). TDN Verdict: There's something about this week every year that seems to coincide with the beginning of Ballydoyle's season proper and Chester's resurgent May Festival has been a very happy hunting ground for the stable for some...

Veteran rider Franny Norton, who announced his retirement earlier this week, rode a trio of winners at Chester to end his career on a high. Norton enjoyed seven rides on Saturday, prevailing with 1-3 favourite Raneenn (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) in the EBF "Confined" Fillies' Novice Stakes for trainer William Haggas and owner Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum in the day's third race. Haggas said, "It was lovely to give him a winner on his last day. He rode the most brilliant race for us a few years ago (2017) on a...

Sir Michael Stoute's mastery of knowing when to press and when to relent with his horses has resulted in a rarefied fine-tuning of training older horses bordering on cliche. On Friday at Chester we see another budding kingpin from Freemason Lodge in Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}), who starts a potentially significant 4-year-old campaign in the G2 Ire-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley S. Such a live contender for the Derby just two runs after his debut in Newmarket's "Wood Ditton", the Niarchos homebred was unable to build on his promising...

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features a well-bred son of Dubawi (Ire). 15.05 Chester, Listed, £100,000, 3yo, c/g, 10f 70yT GOD'S WINDOW (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) tackles the Listed Boodles Raindance Dee S. as he preps for one of the European Derbys, having already proven himself at the top level when third in...

After the shell-shock of City Of Troy's performance in Saturday's 2000 Guineas still reverberating, the Derby has a much more open look than it did last week and so the focus on Chester's May Festival will be even keener than usual. Wednesday's G3 Boodles Chester Vase has supplied the Blue Riband hero twice since 2013 and with a record 10 successes it is clear that Aidan O'Brien has come to prioritise the trial for his Epsom hopefuls. Ryan Moore had the pick of a duo this time and has opted...

Aidan O'Brien's phenomenal record at Chester's May Festival speaks for itself and while there was a small bump in the road on Thursday as Changingoftheguard (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) failed to read the script, it is another of the stable's key 4-year-olds who steps forward to take up the mantle on Friday. One of the unfortunate TDN Rising Stars who was denied the opportunity to make an impact in his Classic year, Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) showed enough when beating the subsequent G2 Mooresbridge S. winner Visualisation (Ire) (No Nay...

Kenny McPeek has backed impressive Cheshire Oaks winner Savethelastdance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to fulfill her destiny at Epsom next month and revealed that he will be watching how the Aidan O'Brien-trained filly's career develops with interest.  It was in 2017 when the US-based trainer concocted a daring plan to take on the best middle-distance fillies in Europe with Daddys Lil Darling (Scat Daddy), the dam of the new short-priced Betfred Oaks winner Savethelastdance.  However, Daddys Lil Darling did not get the opportunity to show how good she was to the...

The pre-eminent group 1 horse in Thursday's G3 tote.co.uk Ormonde S., Hamish (GB) (Motivator {GB}) shrugged off the disadvantage of his three-pound penalty to record back-to-back successes in Chester's stamina test for the older middle-distance performers. Having got within 3/4 of a length of Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Irish St Leger at The Curragh in September, the 7-4 second favourite boasted the key piece of form but was usurped at the head of the market as the money flooded in for Ballydoyle's returning G2 King Edward VII...