Senior Form Analyst Jamie Lynch shortlists a quintet for the big meeting at Chester this week, live on Sky Sports Racing, including 10/1 and 14/1 chances.
Tuesday 7 May 2024 17:51, UK
Jamie Lynch has five horses to keep an eye on at Chester's Boodles May Festival, which commences on Wednesday, including each-way chances like Michaela's Boy at 14/1.
More than once in his embryonic career, Tsunami Spirit has looked a lot like a horse who'll be in his element with racing the Chester way, as he has a high cruising speed that hasn't yet been seen to full effect.
A three-runner race for his comeback at Kempton was no use to him at all, but to split Jubilee Walk and Imperial Guard was probably more of an achievement than the handicapper has acknowledged, generously leaving him on the same mark.
Times (and sectionals) say he's better than a mark of 84, and stall 6 gives him a big chance of drafting in the second wave, in a race in which the inside trio are liable to take each other on.
He might have been longer than anticipated in getting off the mark, but the act of winning may do wonders for Kings Merchant, after several near-misses when either starting or trading odds-on, and the would-be jolt in confidence coincides with what looks a lenient handicap mark of just 75, considering the runner-up at Wolverhampton, Miss Anya, has won not once but twice since.
There'll always be a premium on the price of those lucky enough to be drawn 1 in shorter-distance handicaps at Chester but, in this race especially, with a double-figure field and defined front-runners, it's a big bonus for Oisin Murphy and Kings Merchant who can stalk and surge as he did at Wolverhampton.
They've never before hooked up, but Michaela's Boy and Chester look a match made in heaven. Only a handful of horses at Royal Ascot 2023 covered the first furlong in sub-14 seconds from a standing start, and Michaela's Boy was one of them, the leg-up for leading the frightening field in the Palace Of Holyrood House for a long way, and such speed is all the more deadly around Chester.
With a sharpening run under his belt, a first-time tongue strap and his lowest handicap mark since 2022, Michaela's Boy has a clutch of catalysts to re-find his mojo at a tailor-made track.
Al Rufaa is my cliff horse and, loathed as I am to pass him over, he's unlikely to get here what he needs, namely a good gallop, given the make-up of the race whereby Loyal Touch looks the only front-runner.
Dream Harder has the better draw and better tools for the projected scenario, at a compatible course, where two appearances have generated a first and an unlucky fourth.
This is quite a class drop for him after consecutive runs in 0-105s, and Ian Williams tends to have his squad primed for the Boodles May Festival.
In the immediate aftermath, I remember thinking at Newbury that we'd displayed the placings incorrectly on the on-screen results graphic, in respect of Grand Providence, who I couldn't believe had finished third from the position she was in (and the pressure she was under) when I last had eyes on her in real-time.
Her finishing flourish connected to her stamina-sustained upward curve last season, which culminated with a run in the Cesarewitch (after winning the trial), almost mission impossible for a 3-y-o, but here she is, a year older and stronger, with the Chester Cup in her sights and within her capabilities.
Watch the Boodles May Festival on Sky Sports Racing.
