Chester selections Friday 9th May
The most exciting races of the big Chester meeting have largely been backloaded to the final day of the fixture and so the flagship race of the week, the Chester Cup is the race to concentrate on today. I have two selections for the big race, plus an each-way bet elsewhere on the card.
Chester 3.05: East India Dock & Zoffee
A progressive 3yo on the flat last season as he went up in distance, EAST INDIA DOCK maintained that improvement to become one of the top juvenile hurdlers of the winter and can resume that progress back on the flat in the Chester Cup.
Although well beaten at Royal Ascot, he improved for the application of cheekpieces, running well in competitive handicaps at Haydock and Goodwood before winning at the latter venue over 2m in September. He did not seem to appreciate making the running at Doncaster’s Leger meeting, ultimately fading into fourth on his final flat run.
However after switching to James Owen he then won his first three hurdles races in dominant fashion, two in graded Cheltenham contests. Favourite for the Triumph Hurdle, he couldn’t quite get up the hill as he was beaten a length by Poniros. However this sharper track will play to his strengths and help ensure the stamina lasts out for the full 18f here. A flat rating of 89 could look generous considering his continued improvement over jumps.
It would be folly to ignore the claims of ZOFFEE, a game winner of this race last season and a narrow second back in 2023. He gets his preferred fast ground today and stall four is a very handy berth to get.
He was unable to repeat his heroics here later in 2024, but was unlucky in running in the Northumberland Plate and was a solid fourth here in the autumn on ground slower than ideal. As a result his mark has come back down to within 1lb of his victory last season. He ran a cracker first time out in this in 2023, so can go well fresh and given his stable, this race has to be the number one target for the year.
Chester 3.40: Rathgar
RATHGAR rates a solid each-way wager in this 10f handicap. His odds are generous due to a wide draw, but with two non-runners, that burden has already been eased somewhat.
He also has good tactical pace so David Probert might well be able to get him handy and across towards the inside before the first bend. This adaptable sort goes on any ground and won on fast going in a Racing League contest at Yarmouth last summer.
He started his 2025 campaign with a fair effort at Epsom last time and can race off the same mark of 88 today. The Jack Channon yard is in fine form at present with a 27% strike rate in the past two weeks and Rathgar has generally saved his best for speed favouring tracks such as Goodwood so there is every reason to think he will handle Chester.
Recommended bets:
1pt win – East India Dock – 3.05 Chester – 100/30 general
1pt each-way – Zoffee – 3.05 Chester – 14/1 Ladbrokes (1/5 odds 1st 4)
1pt each-way – Rathgar – 3.40 Chester – 7/1 general
