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 15y	El Astronaute (Good)	10 May 2017	59.17s
6f 17y	Boundsy (Good)	15 Jul 2017	1m 5.87s
7f 2y	Above The Rest (Good to Soft)	24 Sep 2016	1m 24.52s
7f 127y	Dragons Tail (Good to Firm)	28 Jul 2018	1m 4.14s
1m 2f 70y	Forest Ranger (Good)	11 May 2018	2m 8.39s
1m 3f 75y	Enable (Good)	10 May 2017	2m 23.8s
1m 4f 63y	Here And Now (Good)	10 May 2017	2m 35.05s
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	277	34	110	£450,199	12.27%	-£19.97
A M Balding	107	22	42	£256,361	20.56%	-£24.99
Tom Dascombe	180	21	68	£183,167	11.67%	-£110.54
M Johnston	113	20	46	£296,214	17.7%	£2.73
T D Easterby	87	11	26	£92,939	12.64%	-£5.75
Ian Williams	80	10	25	£169,550	12.5%	-£25.75
R Hannon	31	8	14	£119,664	25.81%	£1.16
R M Beckett	33	7	12	£69,826	21.21%	-£11.05
K A Ryan	24	5	7	£62,691	20.83%	-£6.09
A P O'Brien	18	5	6	£241,016	27.78%	-£0.02

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
F Norton	131	18	57	£263,719	13.74%	-£41.70
R Kingscote	104	16	42	£152,211	15.38%	-£39.24
David Probert	66	11	23	£88,817	16.67%	-£26.28
P Hanagan	82	10	36	£103,410	12.2%	-£26.20
Jack Mitchell	25	7	11	£43,437	28%	£10.50
Harry Bentley	24	7	9	£87,485	29.17%	£21.25
Liam Jones	30	6	11	£37,187	20%	£48.63
P J McDonald	30	6	9	£50,778	20%	-£15.01
S De Sousa	26	6	6	£128,859	23.08%	£0.19
Connor Murtagh	53	5	16	£43,312	9.43%	-£12.25