Chester Course Guide

Considered to be the oldest racing venue in England; racing around Chester’s tight ‘Roodee’ track has taken place since 1539 and some 500 years on the track itself has changed very little – the city walls and banks of the River Dee shaping two thirds of the circuit.

The sharp nature of the course means that it races exclusively on the Flat and Chester’s May Festival is now considered to be one of the highlights of the Flat racing year. Highlight of the three-day Festival is the historic Chester Cup, a two and a quarter mile handicap, but the fixture also boasts Classic trials in the shape of the Chester Vase, Dee Stakes and Cheshire Oaks, plus valuable races for older horses in the Huxley Stakes and Ormonde Stakes.

Among the top-class horses to have been successful at the course’s May Festival are Enable, Light Shift, Noble Mission, Shergar, Old Vic, Ruler Of The World, Teenoso, Harbinger, St Nicholas Abbey, Pentire, Oath and Kris Kin.

Flat Racing

Left handed, very sharp. A circular course that's only just over a mile round, it's on the turn almost throughout and has a run-in of under two furlongs, heavily favoring those that race to the fore as it's easy to find trouble with little time to recover. A low draw at Chester is a huge advantage, even in middle-distance races, and particularly so in large fields.

At Chester, for most of any race, your horse will be leading with its near-fore, the one closer to the inside rail. And you have only two chances to change that: in the short home straight, or after the winning post in contests longer than a full circuit. You need to maximise those if you want to make ground or get a breather into one, because it’s not natural for a horse to lead on its near-fore all the way. It can pay to be brave in sprints. The straight may be short, but there’s still time to ride a finish.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Chester Top Times
Last 5 years

Flat

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f 16y	Olivia Fallow (Good to Firm)	13 Jun 2015	59.46s
6f 17y	Boundsy (Good)	15 Jul 2017	1m 5.87s
7f 2y	Enlace (Good to Firm)	27 Jun 2015	1m 24.29s
7f 127y	Dragons Tail (Good to Firm)	28 Jul 2018	1m 4.14s
1m 2f 75y	Sennockian Star (Good to Firm)	13 Jun 2015	2m 7.67s
1m 3f 75y	Enable (Good)	10 May 2017	2m 23.8s
1m 4f 66y	Leaderene (Good)	10 Jul 2015	2m 35.22s
1m 5f 89y	Gabrial's King (Good)	22 Aug 2015	2m 50.2s
1m 6f 87y	Duretto (Good)	01 Sep 2018	3m 2.84s
1m 7f 196y	Nafaayes (Good)	12 Jul 2019	1m 43.81s
2m 2f 140y	Magic Circle (Good)	11 May 2018	4m 2.9s

Chester Top Trainers
Last 3 years (ordered by number of winners)

Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R A Fahey	320	38	136	£484,844	11.88%	-£64.05
A M Balding	129	26	53	£364,905	20.16%	£9.39
M Johnston	145	25	51	£337,791	17.24%	-£7.39
Tom Dascombe	202	23	64	£201,593	11.39%	-£130.29
T D Easterby	102	15	24	£158,661	14.71%	£7.25
Ian Williams	82	9	25	£161,451	10.98%	-£40.25
R Hannon	48	9	22	£116,796	18.75%	-£13.09
A P O'Brien	26	8	10	£368,612	30.77%	-£0.22
R M Beckett	41	7	15	£89,148	17.07%	-£12.05
K A Ryan	39	7	15	£81,366	17.95%	-£14.09

Chester Top Jockeys
Last 3 years (ordered by number of winners)

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
F Norton	168	23	71	£319,364	13.69%	-£64.39
R Kingscote	113	18	37	£174,491	15.93%	-£58.99
David Probert	72	12	24	£91,058	16.67%	-£27.16
P Hanagan	78	9	35	£95,318	11.54%	-£23.20
Connor Murtagh	71	7	25	£70,821	9.86%	-£25.75
P J McDonald	36	7	12	£57,003	19.44%	-£19.51
R L Moore	25	7	12	£311,902	28%	-£5.72
Jack Mitchell	23	7	9	£43,437	30.43%	£12.50
Harry Bentley	20	7	7	£87,485	35%	£25.25
J F Egan	64	6	23	£70,555	9.38%	-£23.00