Timefigure Review: Chester's May Festival

Conditions were very testing at Chester last week and the last time the Chester Cup was run in a slower time than the 4m 33.09 it took Making Miracles to slog through the mud was back in 1988 when Old Hubert won by twelve lengths, with ten lengths back to the third. That 1988 meeting was also one where the umbrellas were up constantly, and neither the Chester Vase nor the Dee Stakes proved a good pointer to the Derby with seventh being the best either winner could manage. The Cheshire Oaks contestants never even got a chance to strut their stuff as racing was abandoned with the course waterlogged. So, what might we expect of the winners this year?

The Chester Vase is the most significant of the three Chester classic trials. In recent years, it has been something of a Ballydoyle benefit without always being a good pointer to Epsom, for all Ruler of the World followed up at Epsom in 2013, and US Army Ranger went on to finish second in 2016. Encouragingly for the prospects of this year’s winner Sir Dragonet, his 117 timefigure (118 after his sectional upgrade is applied) is the highest in the race this century. Moreover, he has a good deal in common with Ruler of the World in that both were unraced as two-year-olds and won the Chester Vase on just their second starts. Sir Dragonet is currently vying for favouritism in the Derby and promises to be Camelot’s best representative yet.  

Sir Dragonet bolted up to take victory in the MBNA Chester Vase at @ChesterRaces!https://t.co/m9SI4IBnPV

Join us LIVE tomorrow at 1:30pm on @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/1wVfXDxAVJ

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 8, 2019

The Dee Stakes is almost as much of a Ballydoyle benefit as the Chester Vase, but as far as Derby relevance goes these days it is something of a second-rate affair. The 2019 winner Circus Maximus already looks relatively exposed and pretty much matched the best of his juvenile form in returning a 108 timefigure, but he will be suited by a stiffer test of stamina and like his stablemate and runner-up Mohawk (who came out the best horse at the weights with a timefigure of 111), he will probably show a bit more improvement down the line. Third-placed Fox Chairman (out of a Galileo mare) ran to a useful level on just his second start (timefigure 102) and has a future at this level at least.  

It's a 1-2 for Aidan O'Brien as Circus Maximus takes the @HomeServeUK Dee Stakes under Ryan Moore #BoodlesMayFest pic.twitter.com/843v05cetr

— Chester Racecourse (@ChesterRaces) May 9, 2019

John Gosden is the only trainer to have challenged Aidan O’Brien’s supremacy in the Cheshire Oaks since 2010, winning it with the subsequent superstar Enable in 2017, and he took it again when Mehdaayih ran out a comprehensive winner. A winning timefigure of 99 – though hardly outstanding – is not far below the best the race has produced this century, so she shouldn’t be ruled out at Epsom despite appearing to find a good deal more improvement.

Mehdaayih pulls clear to claim victory in the Arkle Finance Cheshire Oaks at @ChesterRaces! pic.twitter.com/WKhwD9U2v2

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 8, 2019

Sir Dragonet aside, the standout timefigure (116) of the week came from Morando in the Ormonde Stakes. A contested lead to tee things up for the returning St Leger winner Kew Gardens on his reappearance seemed to be the idea, but that scenario drew out a career-best effort from last year’s underestimated St Simon Stakes winner who is now 2-2 at a mile and a half or more, and on this evidence, he is up to mixing it at an even higher level. The only other pattern race of the week, the Huxley Stakes, went to Forest Ranger in a modest timefigure of 97, and the form looks potentially misleading with the third horse appearing to run a career best.

MORANDO hoses up in the Chester rain to land the Group 3 Boodles Diamond Ormonde Stakes, under a vintage ride from Silvestre De Sousa 👌

He's entered in the Investec Coronation up next month. pic.twitter.com/QKocJYvCI9

— Champions Series (@ChampionsSeries) May 9, 2019

Improved sprinter Merhoob put up the best performance of the week (110) in a handicap to get the better of the font-running course specialist Copper Knight, while the two-year-old performance of the week came not in the Lily Agnes (often a Royal Ascot pointer, but unlikely to be this year with the winner Great Dame recording a figure of just 74) but in the five-furlong maiden where Full Authority posted a timefigure of 96 when making an impressive winning debut. A well-bred colt by Kingman, he seems sure to improve for that experience and has the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot written all over him.