Equinties - Chester day 1

Gm Equinauts

Some of the fastest horses in the world racing round the Roodee. For many, Chester’s historic May Festival is the best meeting in the calendar.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUND UP

MATCH FITNESS

They say there’s nothing quite like match fitness.
Someone may think they are fit because they have been hitting the gym, but chuck them on a football or rugby field and the lad who has played team sports for most of his life while also having 15 pints on a matchday would run laps around them.

In horse racing, it’s the same. You could have a brilliant horse at home, but we see time and time again that these talented horses come on for their first runs of the season.

This time of the year is pretty difficult for punting, as only a few people in the world truly know when a specific horse is race-fit.
Well, with the season’s first UK non-Classic Group 1 set to occur next weekend, it’s only right we provide an update on ROSALLION, the ante-post favourite for Newbury’s Lockinge Stakes.

This race has been a target for a while, and Richard Hannon is a master target trainer. Already this season, he has lined up PERSICA for his Gold Cup with success (Group 3 Earl Of Sefton Stakes) and he is fairly open about the well-being of his horses.

Speaking to the Post, he said: "I'm extremely happy with Rosallion. He's coming from almost a year off and it's hard for them after a layoff, so we've done a fair bit hoping he'll go to Newbury match-fit.

"He's been on the go a fair while now and we took him to Kempton a couple of times alongside a trip to Newbury, so he's done plenty to get in shape. He's going very well and we're looking forward to it. He's been a very good friend to me and hopefully it continues."

So, it seems like ROSALLION is going to be as close to 100% as Hannon can get him. Superb. A clash between him, DANCING GEMINI, TAMFANA, and maybe even NOTABLE SPEECH could be rather cool.

PERSICA could join him if he doesn’t go to the Prix d’Ispahan, UNQUESTIONABLE could also run if he doesn’t run in Saturday’s Listed Spring Trophy at Haydock, and HAATEM has the Queen Anne as his main target.

Oh, and Hannon highlighted a juvenile to watch as well. He said: "We've got some nice two-year-olds, and Private Affair is a very nice one," he said. "He could be quite smart and I think he was the best horse in the race. He wants six furlongs now, so I'm thinking about the Woodcote."

Boom.

IRELAND, NOT FRANCE

Having had the Newmarket Guineas, we now have the Irish and French equivalents to look forward to over the next few weeks.

One horse that we were expecting to head over to France was RASHABAR for Brian Meehan, a trainer who nearly won the race with ISAAC SHELBY in 2023, but he will miss this Sunday’s Classic at Longchamp.

He said: “Unfortunately Rashabar will miss the Poules d’Essai des Poulains this Sunday. He spiked a temperature a couple of days ago, and subsequent blood tests have shown that he is not 100 per cent.

“As always in these situations it is better to be cautious and we will now aim for the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh.”

So, the Irish Guineas is now the target. Hopefully, all is okay with him by the time that race rolls around.

As for other confirmations for Sunday’s big Group 1 contest, CAMILLE PISSARO and HENRI MATISSE, the 1-5 in last season’s Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, were left in the race yesterday.

Both horses have had prep runs with this race in mind, though it was HENRI MATISSE who got his head in front while CAMILLE PISARRO had to settle for second in the Listed Lester Piggott Gladness Stakes. Although CAMILLE PISARRO got the better of his stablemate in France on Arc weekend last year, he wasn’t the fancied runner of the pair (HENRI MATISSE went off 13/10 with Ryan Moore booked), and his form before France was probably worse than HENRI MATISSE’s.

We’re excited to see these two this weekend, but we think Moore could just pick HENRI MATISSE of the pair.

The likes of JONQUIL, HOTAZHELL, LUTHER, DETAIN, and AOMORI CITY were also confirmed yesterday.

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