The opening day of Chester’s May meeting is the centrepiece of this Wednesday’s racing action and will be shown live on ITV4. We’ve picked out a couple to keep onside in Cheshire this afternoon.
The draw is, famously, important to a horse's hopes around here, as tight as the track is, and reading cards here is a bit like being down at the dogs at times.
The description ground at the venue has been changed to 'good' by official sources and, after the beaming sunshine that we’ve been treated to in the North West over the last few days, they should be racing on proper decent ground today. We’ve kept that in mind, too, while making our selections.
The opening race of the meeting comes at lunchtime in the form of the Lily Agnes and goes off at 13:50 and there’s one in there we want onside at a big price.
Gingersdunthelot goes for David Loughnane and isn’t one that jumps off the page on first glance. He finished 9/13 and stone last of ten on his two starts to date, but did show some real zip on both those occasions before bits of greenness and waywardness put paid to his efforts.
First-time cheekpieces today might sharpen him up a bit and, with a plum draw in stall 1, he can bolt out and get nice bit of real estate on the rail. He’ll do well to hold onto that lead with a few useful types drawn outside him but, at morning odds of 66/1 and above, it’s worth taking an each-way chance in the hopes that he can.
Later on in the card, in the second of the 5f sprints at 15:00, we like another with a plum draw. Looks A Million has been running in better company than this and drops into a handicap for the first time for Joseph Tuite.
A filly by Kyllachy, she’s been running in Listed company without letting the side down all of last season, and comes here having travelled well for long parts of her seasonal debut at that level at Bath.
Drawn 1 and with Oisin Murphy on board, she can get out and impose herself a bit on this field. She’s priced up at 7/1 and will be hard to keep out of the first three. We’ll take her each-way, too.