G3 Chester Vase | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gosdens’ Betfred Derby/Oaks Hopefuls Gallop at Epsom Downs

Epsom Downs saw G1 Betfred Derby and Oaks hopefuls going through their paces Monday with Frankie Dettori partnering Juddmonte's Arrest (Ire), a homebred son of Frankel (GB), over just short of a mile at The Derby Festival Gallops Morning. Now in his final year in the saddle, Dettori likes his chances in the 244th running of the premier Classic over a mile and a half to be run on Saturday, June 3.

“I have been fortunate enough to win The Derby twice and it is still the most famous race in the world for us. When I started my career as a jockey, first of all you want to get a ride in it and then try to win it. I've had over 20 rides in it and this is my last go. At least I am going into my last Derby with a great chance,” said Dettori after the gallop. “This year is a lot of lasts. I went to Rome yesterday and it was my last Derby there. I saw the vice Prime Minister and he gave me a plaque congratulating me on my career. Now it's my last Derby here and I have a live chance, which is good.”

Co-trainer John Gosden was equally pleased, adding: “This horse can change gears, absolutely. He's a big boy and he proved he stayed the other day [in the May 10 G3 Chester Vase] when he handled the conditions. He doesn't need it to be like that.

“Stamina is a requirement in this race, the same for the GI Kentucky Derby going a mile and a quarter for the Americans, they see it as a marathon. He's got the stamina, no problem.”

Arrest visited the winner's enclosure twice in 2022 and was having his first run of the season in the Chester Vase.

Running Lion and Oisin Murphy in the irons on the gallop at Epson Downs | John Hoy/The Jockey Club

Not long behind her stablemate, Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion) worked just under a mile with three-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy in the irons, who is looking to continue his noteworthy return to the races after serving a 14-month ban for alcohol and Covid breaches. The grey won the Listed Howden Pretty Polly S. at Newmarket on her last start and appeared to handle the track well Monday before pulling clear of her lead horse.

“We were obviously delighted with Running Lion at Newmarket. She came out of the race well and today she went down very relaxed,” said Murphy afterwards. “Once I got her organised, although she didn't take too much organising, I let her go forward in the straight but I resisted the temptation to ask her for an effort because I thought the Pretty Polly with a little bit of dig in the ground wasn't long ago.”

Her rider does admit, however, that he has concerns regarding the stamina requirements for a contest of this calibre, ones echoed by the senior Gosden:

“Stamina-wise you never really know until you go a mile and a half. Everyone thinks it is a downhill track but it rises 150ft before you think about coming down hill and of course that last section where it climbs again at the finish can catch a lot of them out on stamina. Both the fillies have a lot of speed. It's hard to say until you know with the trip, they're both bred to be mile-and-a-quarter fillies and the last part is always the key, we don't know. You can't practice a race over a mile and a half at home, I don't think.”

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Same Fight, New Arena

In the year of Appleby vs O'Brien, Chester's Roodeye is an apt setting for the latest gladiatorial encounter between racing's two superpowers with the G3 Boodles Chester Vase seeing another stand-off between Moulton Paddocks and Rosegreen. While the extended 12-furlong Derby trial is small potatoes in comparison with the epic clashes in the Classics and Royal Ascot, how Godolphin's exciting New London (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) deals with Changingoftheguard (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will either continue or change the current conversation. The former, who hails from the family of Masked Marvel (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) and Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), is priced in single figures for the Blue Riband at present and despite the obvious promise of his smooth win in a 10-furlong Newmarket novice Apr. 13, he will need to put on a show here to justify that kind of confidence. Changingoftheguard, who sports the increasingly-familiar Westerberg silks, will probably have to do more than his six-length maiden win at Dundalk at the start of last month but he has the perfect profile for the race that his trainer has won a record nine times including six times with a son of Galileo.

A Cut Above?
Joseph O'Brien's horses are striking form at present and the preceding Listed Weatherbys Bloodstock Pro Cheshire Oaks sees the stable's Above the Curve (American Pharoah) bid to justify favouritism and book a ticket to Epsom. Her 2 1/2-length defeat of Ballydoyle's re-opposing Thoughts of June (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in a 10-furlong Leopardstown maiden Apr. 6 earned her a place in the pantheon of TDN Rising Stars and the relative of Giant's Causeway and Gleneagles (IRE) and co has now to prove worthy. She takes on the likes of Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa's Apr. 6 Lingfield novice scorer Night Battle (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) and a clutch of other aspiring Epsom candidates in the first of several debutante's balls leading to the first Friday in June.

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Back to the Roodee

Chester's May meeting gets underway on Wednesday, with the G3 Chester Vase and Listed Weatherbys ePassport Cheshire Oaks offering the opportunity for Epsom hopefuls to enter the fray at the famous “Roodee”.

While neither has attracted a standout this year, the Derby and Oaks trials are at times fertile ground for the lesser-exposed types to flaunt their wares such as Godolphin's Wirko (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) in the Vase. Having already proven himself on Epsom's inimitable terrain when winning the Apr. 20 Listed Blue Riband Trial, the Charlie Appleby-trained bay could become a serious contender for the Classic on the first Saturday in June if he is able to back up that performance here. “He's got his golden ticket to Epsom, but firstly we want to give him some more experience and secondly, we hope the step up to a mile-and-a-half at Chester will see further improvement,” Appleby explained. “He did all his best work in the last couple of hundred yards at Epsom and he's a horse who we think, with his pedigree and the way he races, should be suited by a step up in trip. He's by Kingman, but he does have a German pedigree on the dam's side, so one would hope he'll be able to handle softer ground.”

With Chester being hit by 26mm of rain from Monday, the good-to-soft going description means that Aidan O'Brien has stripped his Vase team to one with the likely favourite Sir Lamorak (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and his pacemaker San Martino (Ire) (The Gurkha {Ire}) being left at home. He still has the Apr. 15 G3 Craven S. sixth Sandhurst (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to attempt to stretch his tally to 10 in this extended 12-furlong prize, having won six of those in the last seven runnings. Godolphin also have the John and Thady Gosden-trained Apr. 9 Leicester novice scorer Law of the Sea (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}), whose stamina is assured unlike Michael Pescod's Listed Ascendant S. scorer Fancy Man (Ire) (Pride of Dubai {Aus}) who steps up markedly in trip having finished one place behind the re-opposing Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) when fifth in the nine-furlong Listed Feilden S. at Newmarket Apr. 13.

“Law of the Sea has won well on his last two starts, firstly at Kempton and then at Leicester last time,” said trainer Thady Gosden. “He's a nice horse, who has already won over a mile-and-a-half, and he should handle the soft ground. It's a tough race, but hopefully he'll run well.”

In the Cheshire Oaks, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum's G2 May Hill S. and G3 Sweet Solera S. runner-up Dubai Fountain (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) sets a clear standard and probably only needs to repeat that form or that of her fourth in the G1 Fillies' Mile at Newmarket in October which is looking very strong now. Shadwell's unbeaten Zeyaadah (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) could be a major Oaks contender and the form of her 1 1/4-length defeat of Mystery Angel (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) in Newmarket's Listed Montrose Fillies' S. over a mile on heavy ground at Newmarket in October looks better now that the runner-up has won the Listed Pretty Polly S. “She's a nice, tough filly and she had a good year last year,” said Angus Gold. “She won on heavy ground at Newmarket and had to grind it out to do so. She's taken a bit of time to come to herself this spring. Roger [Varian] himself said we'll see her looking better than this, but she's done enough to start. Obviously the Oaks is approaching and we need to see if she's up to that class or not.”

One of the darker ones is Lord Lloyd-Webber's Darlectable You (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), but the full-sister to Too Darn Hot (GB) has to improve markedly on her return second in a 10-furlong Newbury maiden Apr. 16. “She ran well at Newbury first time out this year,” commented Thady Gosden. “When she hit the front she just got a bit lonely, as you would expect. They've obviously had plenty of rain at Chester, which she will hopefully be able to handle. It's a good race with Mark Johnston's filly [Dubai Fountain], who was fourth in the Fillies' Mile, and Roger Varian's filly [Zeyaadah], who won the Montrose. It's a tough race, but our filly is in good form and hopefully she'll run well.”

At Gowran Park, last year's G1 Prix du Cadran heroine Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) looks to put a disappointing return effort behind her when ninth in the Listed Noblesse S. at Cork Apr. 3 as she tackles the 14-furlong Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Vintage Tipple. “I'm hoping that the ground stays yielding-to-soft and the extra two furlongs should make a difference as she's getting fitter all the time,” revealed trainer Tony Mullins. “This will be her last run before the Ascot Gold Cup and I'm hoping to see a big improvement from Cork. She's got to give away weight, but she's going to have to do that all the time now, apart from in Group 1s, and we can't avoid it. Gowran is our local track and the race is named after a horse my father trained to win a Classic, so it would be a lovely to win it.”

In the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Victor McCalmont Memorial over an extended nine furlongs, Ballydoyle's Empress Josephine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) goes up in trip after going a shade too quick in front before fading to 10th in Leopardstown's seven-furlong G3 1000 Guineas Trial Apr. 11. The full-sister to Minding (Ire) encounters older fillies and mares including Moyglare Stud Farm's progressive Listed Trigo S. winner and G2 Blandford S. runner-up Amma Grace (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who as a full-sister to Search For a Song (Ire) and half to Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) et al is a fascinating prospect as a 4-year-old.

Click here for the group fields.

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