Matt Brocklebank tipped the 12/1 Dee Stakes winner on Thursday and has three more selections for day three of the May Festival at Chester.
Racing betting tips: Friday May 7
1pt win Crownthorpe in 1.45 Chester at 16/1 (General)
1pt win The Grand Visir in 2.45 Chester at 14/1 (General)
1pt win Indianapolis in 4.20 Chester at 7/1 (Hills)
THE GRAND VISIR helps provide Ian Williams with a strong hand as the in-form trainer seeks a third career success in Friday’s tote+ Chester Cup Handicap and he’s the one to be on at the prices.
Although drawn wider than ideal in 11, and clearly higher than stablemates Cardano and Reshoun who are housed in stalls one and five respectively, The Grand Visir should in theory be able to clear relative slow-starters Falcon Eight, Glencadam Glory and Coeur De Lion on his immediate inside, providing he gets away from the gates well under course specialist Richard Kingscote. Trumpet Man is one stall higher and he's sometimes a step slow from the gates as well, so I don't envisage a scenario in which the selection struggles for a reasonable early pitch.
Kingscote - who clearly loves the place and is having a productive week - is still seeking his first success in this race but has a really good record when riding for Williams, having enjoyed 40 winners and 31 seconds from 175 rides (23% strike-rate) for the yard in total, on top of a healthy level-stakes profit of £88.63.
That strike-rate is 37% (10-27) when you focus on the current calendar year alone and it looks significant Williams has acquired the rider’s services again for this horse.
The Grand Visir is having his first Flat start of the season (as were the trainer’s previous Cup heroes Bulwark and Magic Circle), having last been seen running in a Grade Two novice hurdle at Cheltenham in November, while his record when fresh is strong - he and Kingscote almost landed the Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot first time out last summer, going down a neck to Alan King’s Who Dares Wins, who reopposes here on identical terms.
He backed that up with similar performances in the marathon event at Goodwood, and good conditions races at Doncaster and Pontefract before the brief National Hunt foray, but now returns to the handicap fold off a perfectly fair mark, just 3lb higher than when winning the 2019 Ascot Stakes.
The son of Frankel loves cut in the ground and, with more showers forecast, it seems this year’s renewal could be run in similar conditions to those won by Ile De Re (2012), Trip To Paris (2015) and Making Miracles (2019), who were all able to defy double-figure draws in the past decade when the mud was flying.
As is often the case, the young, unexposed improvers haven’t made the cut for the feature race, instead the likes of Elysian Flame, Postileo, Green Book and Frankenstella have to settle for a shot at the consolation tote+ Chester Plate Handicap.
The race doesn’t make the ITV schedule, unfortunately, but it’s an intriguing puzzle and if Ian Williams has a decent trio for the big one, he’s got an impressive six to call upon for this race.
The big eyecatcher is INDIANAPOLIS, who was bought out of James Given’s yard in December for £52,000. He was gelded within days of the sale and, following 147 days off over the winter, made his stable debut as a 7/1 chance under P J McDonald at Musselburgh early last month.
He was never a factor from well off the pace that day, a race in which it paid to be handy, and one containing a bunch of classy horses who have made the Cup field.
Indianapolis just misses out on account of being dropped 2lb to a mark of 93 subsequently but it’s a rating from which he could be really dangerous here based on the bulk of his high-class, staying handicap form from for previous connections last summer.
The pick of the bunch was probably a running-on fourth in the Sky Bet Handicap at York’s Ebor Festival and, given he’s now 5lb below the mark he ran off there, he’s evidently weighted to win again.
The horse handles all types of ground, having won on good, heavy and the all-weather, while stall three is a lot kinder than the 10 box he was dealt in last month’s Queen’s Cup, a run that might have just put him cherry-ripe fitness-wise. He's not exactly been missed in the market, but looks to have as strong a chance as anything.
Elsewhere, it’s slightly surprising to see CROWNTHORPE at such a big price for the opening tote+ Placepots Pay More Earl Grosvenor Handicap, and he merits a bet at the odds on just his second start in a visor.
The new headgear (has worn cheekpieces three times in the past but not since 2019) hardly sparked a massive upturn in form when last seen, rather the opposite in truth as he could muster only a one-paced third in a four-runner affair at Lingfield. However, a stop-start, tactical battle around there wouldn’t have played to this horse’s strengths and a breakneck gallop at Chester looks much more his bag, and could also help him get away with the slight drop back in distance.
He’s done most of his winning over a mile – or a fraction further – but he’s not a slow horse and ease underfoot is a bit of a prerequisite for the son of Monsieur Bond, whose only previous course outing yielded a slightly disappointing fifth (2/1 favourite) over 10 furlongs at this meeting two years ago.
Rated 89 then, as he is now, Richard Fahey’s horse is unquestionably on a very realistic rating again, having defied slightly higher marks for his two most recent career wins, and stall five should allow Paul Hanagan to gain a nice early position not too far off the pace likely to be set by Gobi Sunset, Ejtilaab and possibly the returning Kenzai Warrior.
With Brentford Hope an early non-runner on Thursday, the race does appear to lack anything that could be miles ahead of their mark, in which case a hard-knocking handicapper like Crownthorpe just about fits the bill.
Published at 1600 BST on 06/05/21
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