Chester’s May meeting takes place this week, adding to a stunning round of sport which includes Champions League and Europa League football. Followers of the beautiful game have been treated to a few days of action that will live long in the memory. This is one for those with a soft spot for the sport of gentleman, however, and we have plenty to look forward to here. Here are our May 10 Horse Racing betting tips.
We are already underway and with a few races to work from, giving us an idea of form, ground and any trends to keep in mind, we now get serious with our Friday bets. This is a great way to boost your balance in good time for the weekend and our team of horse racing experts aim to help you find the winners with our preview of the day.
Chester gets going at 1.50pm with a punchy handicap and we’re held in place until the final race is settled at 5.05pm. Between the two there are some racing delights to savour, including the listed Homeserve Dee Stakes, the Group 3 Boodies Diamond Ormonde Stakes and the headline act, the Chester Cup. There’s value right across the board with bookmakers going up early with the betting, but which runners should you trust with your stake money?
Chester Cup
The Chester Cup is a Class 2 handicap run over 2m 2f and carries a 3.35pm off time on Friday. With almost £100,000 promised to connections of the champion, it’s little surprise to see some of the biggest names in horse racing attending as they aim to grab the lion’s share of a weighty prize pot.
Magic Circle won the race last year for Ian Williams and Fran Berry, delighting backers when scoring off a cracking 6/1 price tag. Will we see something similar this year? Punters certainly hope so and the open nature of the current betting tells us there’s every chance the eventual champion will carry the kind of odds that are attractive to small stakes punters.
With a history that can be traced all the way back to 1824, this remains a real favourite with horse racing enthusiasts in May and is a real signal the flat season is coming at us fast. Before we know it, we will be enjoying glorious summer days with major titles decided over snappy distances. It’s a great time to go out and attend a race meeting and they don’t come much better than Chester racetrack, that’s for sure.
Stats
No horse has won this contest more than twice, but we do have nine runners who have completed the double over the years, including the great Leamington back in 1857 and 1859, as well as Sea Pigeon in 1977 and 1978. We’re back through the history books for leading jockeys with Sam Darling on four titles between 1831 and 1839, Lester Piggott joining him between 1958 and 1976.
The leading trainer prize is something a bit more recent with Barry Hills boasting four gongs. He got off the mark with Arapahos in 1980 and that was added to by Rainbow Hight who did the double in 1999 and 2001 before Daraahem scored in 2009.
Recent runnings of the race show each of the last two champions have been aged six years old and that is enhanced by four of the last seven also carrying that age. It’s also well worth knowing favourites have a poor reputation in this contest with the last winning jolly coming in the form of Mamlook back in 2010. Even that was a 7/1 shot, so there’s good reason to aim for a big price runner on Friday afternoon, perhaps shooting for an each-way contender. You’ll get place terms of 1/4 the odds the first four with most major firms, including bet365.
Punters Expecting a School Day
The antepost betting for this year’s Chester Cup was dominated by Austrian School who was priced no better than the 5/1 you’ll find at 888sport at the time of writing. If you do plan on going with the jolly, we would suggest getting your cash down at 888Sport as the competition are much shorter, with many firms offering 4/1 on the same bet. Making a regular profit from horse racing betting is difficult enough without taking a point less for our stake money.
Four-year-old colt Austrian School comes to us from the Mark Johnston yard and brings a record of five wins and eight placed efforts from 16 previous outings, a run that will catch the eye of shrewd backers. The jolly has finished in the top-three in each of his last eight starts, including a win last time out at Musselburgh when claiming the Queens Cup Stakes.
A 1m 5f heritage handicap, the champion was sent off a 4/1 joint-favourite and lived up to the billing when coming home six lengths ahead of Ulster in second. He has a step up in trip here but the way he won that day, running away from them at the finish line, tells us he’ll cope with the increased demands without too many problems. The one downside to backing Austrian School is the form of favourites in this race, as well as the fact he has won only one of his last 10.
He Who Dares
A better bet to have, in our minds, is Who Dares Wins for Alan King at 10/1 – market best price with William Hill at the time of writing. The seven-year-old gelding is an experienced sort on both the flat and over jumps, bringing a record of five wins and seven places from 21 on the former.
Who Dares Wins arrives fit and was last seen ending third in the Silver Bar Handicap over 2m 2f at Newbury last month. We’ll need him to make a quick change over, but he’ll be sharp enough and makes sense as an each-way bet for an interest.