William Hill ambassador Nick Luck casts his expert eye over the ITV racing on the final day of Chester’s May Festival.
Chester, Friday
DIVINE LIBRA gets the vote in the Chester opener on Friday (1:30pm). Many of the market leaders are closely matched on their running here last autumn, and the selection did well there from a really wide gate. He’s parked out deep again, though not so badly, and reappeared with an excellent and rather luckless run at Haydock. In good heart, with a good record here and Ryan Moore up, he looks sure to run well.
AL WASL STORM might be the way to play a thin-looking middle-distance maiden (2:05pm). He’s still in the Derby – as befits one from this owner – and needs to win to justify that lofty ambition. But there is more to recommend in form terms, both from the useful race he contested on debut at Newbury (horses just in front of him have won and run well since), and a step-up at Lingfield. That just about sets the standard, and he’s growing up all the time.
SPACE LEGEND appeals as the type to do a good bit better this year for William Haggas in the Huxley Stakes (2:35pm). He did really well for one so inexperienced when second to Calandagan at Ascot, but didn’t really go on from there, bouncing at Newmarket before a better effort behind Los Angeles at York. His pedigree suggests that this shorter trip might suit for his seasonal debut, and there is hope that a gelding op might unlock his potential.
HOT FUSS is the pick in the Chester Cup (3:05pm). He’s a very game customer, who has improved over hurdles in an excellent juvenile campaign. His Southwell win suggested that improvement was translated to this sphere and, given how unexposed he is at a marathon trip on the Flat, there is every chance that he’s pretty well-handicapped. The draw is kind, he has plenty of tactical speed, and his trainer will have had this well ringed in the calendar.
GREY CUBAN must have strong claims in the concluding TV race (3:40pm) He loves it here, improved to a point where this mark was a perfectly winnable one under the right conditions, should come on for his recent spin, and will almost certainly appreciate being dropped in distance.
