The feature race on the second day of Chester‘s May meeting is the Group 3 Chester Vase and William Haggas will be looking for a new jockey for Storm The Stars (3.10) given regular pilot Joe Fanning was injured at Catterick on Tuesday evening and is set to miss the rest of the week. He is an exciting colt and acted well on good to soft ground when runner up at Nottingham as a juvenile and the winner, Gosden’s Golden Horn, has already scored in listed company this term. He looks a shade overpriced at 7/1 with BetVictor in a competitive renewal.
Aidan O’Brien has saddled the winner of this Derby Trial three times in the last four years, including with subsequent Derby winner Ruler Of The World in 2013, and relies on recent Leopardstown maiden winner Hans Holbein (currently 40/1 for the classic at BetVictor). He doesn’t look one of Ballydoyle’s A team for the Epsom classic and is overlooked; Future Empire didn’t handle the downhill undulations at Epsom last time and might prefer better ground and Tannaaf looks a bigger danger for Mike De Kock having met trouble in running when fourth in a valuable sales’ race last time.
In the opening 10f handicap the hat-trick seeking Collaboration turned what looked a competitive Epsom handicap into a procession from a 10lbs lower mark last time. He has wintered extremely well, will love the ground and has an excellent draw in stall three. He must go close but at 11/4 he is reluctantly overlooked in favour of Tres Coronas (2.10) who won the corresponding race 12 months ago from a 5lbs lower mark and ran an eye-catching race in the Lincoln over an inadequate trip last time. At 7/1 with BetVictor he can reward each way support.
Billy Slater (3.45) is sure to be primed for his reappearance and shaped as if this extended 7f trip would be well within his compass when finishing third at Haydock on his final start. The selection is 1lb out of the handicap but is drawn in stall three and has most to fear from Hail Clodius who improved for the switch to soft ground at Newmarket when last seen back in August.
Connections appear to have found a decent opportunity for Buy Back Bob (7.50) in the Novices’ Hurdle at Wincanton for Tim Vaughan. Now an 8-year-old the selection has never fulfilled his early promise but goes well fresh and has had a raft of entries in recent days. The Tim Vaughan yard has had a quiet year to date but they have had a couple of winners in the last fortnight and Richard Johnson looks a significant booking.
In the finale at Newton Abbot Iron Chancellor will be all the rage to follow up his success in the corresponding race 12 months ago, but Indiana Bay (5.15) was not given the best of rides over a trip short of his best here last month and as long as he copes with today’s slower conditions is taken to score. The ground is currently soft but the racecourse executive are suggesting they will have a dry election day and the younger Indiana Bay gets the vote over the likely market leader.
At Worcester I would argue By The Boardwalk (1.50) is a winner without a penalty having travelled all over his opponents before idling and getting caught at Huntingdon last time. As a son of Presenting he wouldn’t want the ground any worse than good to soft but granted a decent surface he must go close dropping back in trip.
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