The second day of action at Chester starts with another 5f sprint at 13:50 and we fancy one to overcome the well-established drawn bias around the Cheshire course. El Astronaute is something of a course specialist here - with course form figures that read: (21212) - and can overcome a ticket out in the poor seats in stall nine.
The last of those wins was a C&D handicap on this day last year off a mark of 90 and he returned from a break with an encouraging display at Pontefract last time. He broke smartly to lead from a wide draw that day, and was only beaten by the deeply progressive Foolaad.
Nudged up another three pounds by the handicapper to a mark of 98, he’s got a lot to do to carry that from a wide draw but with his North American-like gate speed and progressive profile, he’s worth supporting as an each-way play at 6-1.
At 14:25 comes the Dee Stakes, a derby trial and the feature race of the day, and it’s one of the Ballydoyle pair that we want to get onside here.
Kenya is a Derby entrant that has been campaigned sparingly to date, with the highlight of his three runs as a juvenile coming when he won a Group 3 over an insufficient 7f at Leopardstown.
He was back a long way behind stablemate Saxon Warrior on return at the same venue on unseasonably deep ground. Stepped up to 1m2f for the first time today on better ground, he’s open to improvement and can defy a penalty under Donnacha O’Brien. A price of 6-1 is more than fair and we’ll take a one-point investment in the hopes that the quality in his lineage can come out over today’s trip.
