Boodles May Festival: four to keep an eye on at Chester

Race: 3.05 Weatherbys ePassport Cheshire Oaks. Odds: 5/2. 

Aidan O’Brien has scooped this prize six times since 2011 and is represented by Port Fairy and Rubies Are Red, but both are going to have to raise their game to give him another success. 

It could be that Aidan’s son, Joseph, holds the aces with GALILEO DAME. This chestnut filly shaped well when runner-up on her debut at Gowran in October and impressed when going one better in decisive style over 1m 2f at Leopardstown last month, when she won at the main expense of Rubies Are Red. 

Galileo Dame was strong at the finish that day, as befits a horse with plenty of stamina on the dam’s side of her pedigree, and moving up a furlong or so seems sure to suit her. She’s not in the Betfred Oaks, so would need to be supplemented if impressing in a trial which Enable won in 2017 before going on to glory at Epsom. 

Race: 3.40 Boodles Chester Vase Stakes. Odds: 9/2. 

Grosvenor Square is a hot favourite to give Aidan O’Brien a tenth winner in this Group Three contest since 2007 but his form has taken a few knocks and so it may pay to look elsewhere. 

Juddmonte homebred CADOGAN PLACE didn’t race as a juvenile but indicated he was ready to make up for lost time when winning a 1m 3f novice event at Southwell at the end of March. 

Sent off the well-backed 11/8 favourite, he travelled best and looked like winning in good style when leading on the bridle two out only to be a little raw in front. He was eventually all out to fend off Hidden Law, who he meets again, by a short head in a frantic finish. 

The Charlie Appleby-trained runner-up did his bit for the form when subsequently bolting up at Newbury but it’s a little surprising he’s much shorter in the betting as Cadogan Place will know a lot more this time. 

Andrew Balding is not one to overface his horses and clearly believes the Frankel colt can hold his own in this better grade. For what it’s worth, one of his siblings, Boardman, was a three-time Chester winner. Cadogan Place is not engaged in the Betfred Derby but that could all change, especially as Juddmonte’s only Derby entry is Macduff. 

Race:  3.05 Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes. Odds: 11/4. 

He made the most of an easy task when beating two rivals on his return in a novice event over a mile at Nottingham but that should have teed him up nicely for this. 

The Dubawi colt had beaten several subsequent winners on his debut at Doncaster in September (Blue Riband Trial winner Bellum Justum was back in fourth) and ran a cracker when third in the Group One Futurity back there the following month. He was slow away that day (perhaps a product of an unfortunate 15-minute delay at the start) and had to switch to the stands’ rail in the latter stages, but he came home strongly. 

That’s the best piece of form on offer and moving up to a mile and a quarter seems sure to suit. 

Aidan O’Brien is seeking a tenth win in the race since 2007 but his No 1 contender, Capulet, was put in place by Bracken’s Laugh at Chelmsford and faces no easy task turning the tables, let alone anything else. 

Race:   Ire-incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley Stakes. Odds: 5/2. 

Last year’s Derby proved too much, too soon for Passenger, after he’d gone off at 8/1, but he returned three months later to land the Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor from the smart West Wind Blows before connections pulled up stumps for the year. 

His profile is not dissimilar to that of his sire, Ulysses, who also found the Derby too much (also went off 8/1) before all but landing the Winter Hill later in the year. Ulysses went on to thrive over ten furlongs as a four-year-old and perhaps Passenger will do the same. 

He’s still got a stack of potential and you’d imagine Sir Michael Stoute will have one eye on next month’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes. He’s chalked up at 25/1 for that race, which is worth a second look.