AIDAN O’BRIEN AND RALPH BECKETT ON THEIR RUNNERS ON DAY 2 OF THE BOODLES MAY FESTIVAL

Last year’s St Leger runner-up Illinos heads a select field of six for the Ladbrokes Big-Value You Can Bet On Ormonde Stakes, the £140,000 feature race on Boodles May Festival Ladies Day.

Aidan O’Brien shares the record in Thursday’s Group 3 with recently retired Sir Michael Stoute, the pair having each sent out six winners of the race, but Illinois stands out on form here and will start a short-priced favourite to give the Ballydoyle maestro the outright record.

The winner of the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot last summer was beaten only a neck by his highly progressive stable-mate Jan Breughel in a thrilling finish to the final Classic and was also a Group 1 second to Sosie in the Grand Prix de Paris and beaten only narrowly by another top-class stable-mate in York’s Great Voltigeur. He ended his campaign on a winning note in a Group 2 at Longchamp on Arc weekend.

O’Brien, whose previous Ormonde winners include the subsequent three-time Coronation Cup winner St Nicholas Abbey, said: “We are happy with everything Illinois is doing and we think he’s come forward from last year, when he never ran a bad race and was second to some very good horses before winning on his last start at Longchamp.

“He’s progressing all of the time and we are looking forward to him this year. He’s hopefully one for the Gold Cup, or possibly the Coronation Cup.”

Illinois faces an intriguing rival in Willie Mullins’ top-class dual purpose horse Absurde, who won the Listed Chester Stakes over a little further last year and confirmed his current well being with an easy win at Plumpton in the Sussex Champion Hurdle. That was only his second run back after finishing on the heels of the placed horses in the Melbourne Cup for a second year running. William Buick will be on board for the first time.

Karl Burke’s recent Nottingham winner Al Qareem is another interesting runner, having twice won the mile-and-a-half Listed race at the September meeting on his only previous appearances at Chester, while local trainer Hugo Palmer saddles Roaring Legend, who won his first three starts for the stable on all-weather surfaces. 

O’Brien also has a strong hand in the Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes, a Listed race which regularly punches above its weight and went to Derby winner Kris Kin in 2003, and one in which he has had six of the last seven winners. He has won the Dee Stakes 11 times in all, including with 2017 Derby runner-up Cliffs Of Moher and multiple Group 1 winners Magician and Circus Maximus.

From five possibles O’Brien has elected to run Isambard Brunel, an all-the-way winner of a maiden at Navan last year, and Mount Kilimanjaro, who ended last year with a Group 1 second to his stable-mate Twain in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud and has already had a run this spring. Both have Betfred Derby entries, but Mount Kilimanjaro has much the stronger form of the pair and is the choice of Ryan Moore. 

O’Brien said: “Mount Kilimanjaro had a run earlier in the year when placed at Dundalk and he’s come forward a lot from there. We think that the trip will suit him well.”

Ralph Beckett had two viable candidates in Calla Lagoon and Push The Limit, both of whom also hold Betfred Derby entries, and he has opted to run the former, a New Bay colt from a good Juddmonte family.

He said :“Calla Lagoon won a novice at Ascot last year and then finished second in a Listed race at Pontefract, where I thought he ran well. The experience of going round Pontefract will stand him in good stead at Chester, and he shapes as if he’ll stay this trip with no problem. This looks a good place to start him.”

A field of seven also includes Andrew Balding’s recent Wood Ditton Stakes winner High Stock and James Tate’s easy Nottingham handicap winner Great David.

Another highly competitive card offering £425,000 in prize money begins at 1.30 with the five-furlong CAA Stellar Handicap, in which Tim Easterby’s popular veteran Copper Knight will be bidding for a fifth course and distance success at the grand old age of 11.

Way back in 2016 Copper Knight won the prestigious Lily Agnes Stakes for two-year-olds on the opening day of the Chester May Festival, and he returned 12 months later to win the Festival’s three-year-old handicap. He was placed for a third time in this race when caught in the last strides by Democracy Dilemma 12 months ago, after which he returned to win another competitive sprint handicap the following month.

He showed he retains all of his enthusiasm when third at Beverley on his reappearance and success here would be particularly welcome for rider Duran Fentiman, who returned only on Monday from serious injury, and whose wife Kirby rides Copper Knight at home. He looks well drawn in stall three.

Easterby, who again runs last year’s sixth Manila Scouse, said: “Copper Knight is just a fantastic racehorse with a great will to win. He’s wonderful, and he’s a great favourite here. Kirby Fentiman rides him at home, and Duran rides him on Thursday. He goes in the spa every day and he’s in really good form, so with luck in running he’ll have every chance again.”

The going at Chester remains GOOD, with a GoingStick reading of 7.5 at 6.15 a.m.