There is a bumper day of racing action on Saturday, including key meetings from Chester and York on a busy afternoon.
Royal Ascot may be just around the corner but there’s some cracking action before we get to Tuesday with seven-race cards from Chester and York this weekend.
The York meeting is headlined by an early season Ebor trial and there are plenty of competitive handicaps to get stuck into at Chester on Saturday.
We have selections and analysis from across the cards this Saturday afternoon including a couple of value picks that may be capable of outrunning their odds.
Saturday’s racing tips
14.45 Chester – Grey Cuban @ SP
15.00 York – Absurde @ 6/4
15.55 Chester – Dreams Adozen @ SP
14.45 Chester – Grey Cuban
A low draw is often a big advantage at Chester, particularly when there’s some cut in the ground over middle distances, and the one that has landed the plum draw in stall one in the Class 3 1m2f handicap is Grey Cuban.
Conversely, Grey Cuban had stall 11 when finishing last on the Roodee at the May meeting but a wide trip meant that he couldn’t be seen to best effect and we can expect a much stronger showing here.
Hugo Palmer’s four-year-old showed he retained plenty of ability on his penultimate start when seventh of 14 on his reappearance outing in a valuable Kempton handicap and after last month’s course effort, he’s now back on his last winning handicap mark of 95.
Furthermore, two of his four wins last season came over this course and distance and there’s every chance he’ll be able to get a prominent position on the inside in this contest with his main pace rivals drawn out wide.
Jockey Jason Hart is a dab hand on prominent racers and some cut in the ground is also in this son of Havana Grey’s favour so he looks capable of at least making the frame at reasonable odds.
15.00 York – Absurde
Absurde could prove to be the star of the show at York on Saturday afternoon.
He ran a belter in last season’s Melbourne Cup before returning to jumps and it was a promising enough return to the Flat at Chester last month, albeit no match for Illinois in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes.
However, his Ebor success of 2023 is still fresh in the memory and there’s a suspicion that York’s long straight will see him to better effect than the tight turns of Chester last time.
With plenty of rain around, his stamina could be a key factor and he looks capable of enhancing Willie Mullins’ strike-rate on the Knavesmire.
15.55 Chester – Dreams Adozen
Charlie Johnston is a trainer that seems to really excel with his stayers and Dreams Adozen looks like a major player in the two-mile handicap on the card at Chester.
The mare arrives on the back of a narrow defeat at Hamilton when she wasn’t able to dominate, but she may be capable of gaining an uncontested lead in this field and once again, the aforementioned Jason Hart looks like the right pilot for the job.
Two of her five wins have come at this venue, both on testing ground, and she deserves to be the outright favourite for this contest.
