Chester takes centre stage for the coming days - live on Your Site Racing - with one of the quirkier tracks in Britain and Ireland playing host to some very significant action.
Between Classic trials, valuable handicaps and much more, there is always a great amount to get stuck into within the ever-challenging prism of a notable draw bias. It isn't easy, but it is always very informative and entertaining.
The Weatherbys Cheshire Oaks (2.35pm) is the first race of interest, and it will feature the first of what promises to be several big clashes this week between contenders from the Aidan O'Brien and the John and Thady Gosden yards. I'm The One will be strongly fancied to retain her unbeaten record following an impressive debut at Newbury last month, but I'm going to side with the O'Brien-trained Amelia Earhart.
The daughter of Camelot may look quite exposed having taken five runs to finally get off the mark in a maiden at Leopardstown, but there is important context to consider with her. Not only is she by Camelot, but she is also out of a mare that was at her best at a mile and a half. Indeed, her best produce as a broodmare thus far has been Cleveland, a full-brother to this filly that won the Chester Cup. In short, this was always a middle-distance filly in the making, and her striding confirms that her mechanics match her pedigree.
In that context, her form over seven furlongs becomes less significant in pure terms and more significant in the context that it came over what is likely to have been a grossly-inadequate trip. This sort of distance is what she has been waiting for, and with Ryan Moore having selected her to ride, she may well give hot-favourite I'm The One plenty to think about.
The other Classic trial on the card is the Boodles Chester Vase Stakes, which could well have a significant impact on the ante-post market for the Derby. The Aidan O'Brien-trained Benvenuto Cellini was one of my favourite two-year-olds last year in terms of potential Derby prospects. The son of Frankel recorded impressive wins in a maiden at Killarney and particularly so in the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown, and while he was ultimately beaten in the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster on his final start, that was run on particularly testing ground, which wouldn't have been at all in his favour.
What made Benvenuto Cellini so attractive to me from the early stages of his career was his long, fluent action and slow-striding mechanics, which had whatever he did as a two-year-old firmly put in the context of him being a mile-and-a-half prospect for 2026. It is also significant that his trainer starts him off over this trip, and while he may find this track tighter than ideal, I am hopeful that he will put on a show to underline his Derby credentials.
The final race of interest on Wednesday is the Roodee Handicap. This really is fiercely competitive, and the draw is likely to play a fair role in proceedings. One that I am happy to take a chance on, however, is the Mick Appleby-trained Bell Shot.
Appleby has played a blinder since acquiring him, working the seven-year-old back up to his previous best form, but there are reasons to think that even better might be forthcoming. Bell Shot has been faring quite well off around career-high marks on the all-weather of late, but it is worth considering that he has never seemed quite as good on the all-weather as on turf, with his turf-win strike rate of 24% from 29 runs leaving his all-weather strike rate of 10% from 20 runs in the shade. Now that he returns to the turf from a good draw (stall 2) around a track that should suit, he could well make a bold bid from the front.
Watch every race from Chester - live on Your Site Racing
