Looking for the inside track at Chester
The draw might not appear to play a significant part in a race run over an extended two-and-a-quarter miles but then few such races are run at a track like Chester.
The course is only just over a mile in total and its tight nature means that a single-figure draw, which allows the chance for jockeys to take a place on the rail, is a prized position for the totesport.com Chester Cup, which has a field of 17. The ability to hold that position is of almost equal importance as a review of the last 10 years shows that the majority of winners have been close to the pace from the start.
This is a race that usually has more plots than the local cemetery and an Agatha Christie whodunit combined, but Som Tala has to be noted from his position at both the bottom of the handicap and in stall two.
This will be his fourth attempt at the race and his 10th place in last year’s renewal may not look that promising but he did not get much luck in running, was only beaten six-and-a-quarter lengths and is now 7lbs lower in the weights.
In fact he is even 5lbs lower in the handicap than when he won the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle last June. There he was in front from the start and dictated terms and, if Luke Morris can get to that rail first, there is every chance of a similar result with the application a first-time visor a ploy that could well sharpen him up a little.
The first of the Classic trials at the meeting is the Weatherbys Bank Cheshire Oaks. However, Myplacelater is not entered for the Oaks but she looked a filly on an upward curve, coming with strong late run on her turf debut to beat some promising colts in a 10-furlong conditions race at Newbury last month and she is rated 9lbs better than any of the British-trained fillies in the race with an official rating.
Aidan O’Brien, who has won this race for the past two seasons, attempts to chalk up his first British winner of the season with Dance On By. She may well improve for her first run of the season, sixth in a Leopardstown maiden, but that still looks to leave her something to find.
Not surprisingly sprint races at Chester are dominated by the draw and if Primo Lady can start a bit better than she did on her debut at Lingfield Park in March she can make the most of her rail’s position to win the Manor House Stables Lily Agnes Stakes.
Primo Lady travelled very well in that race and pulled three-and-a-half lengths clear of a solid yardstick in Scarlet Rocks, albeit in receipt of 4lbs. Bathwick Bear is unbeaten in two starts, and the booking of Jimmy Fortune looks interesting, but the 6lb penalty does not.
If sheer weight of numbers were enough, then David Nicholls would saddle the winner of the Clatterbridge Cancer Research Handicap. He has four of the 15 runners but it may be the Kevin Ryan-trained Green Manalishi who wins.
A real Chester specialist - with three wins, a second and a third from eight track starts - Green Manalishi did not get the breaks at Dundalk last time out. His previous run, when second to Jaconet at Lingfield in February looks good form. The winner went on to run another solid race at Listed level afterwards and the third, Mullionmileanhour, was just touched off for the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket last month.
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