Chester Festival best bet: Trends suggest Copper Knight can roll away the years in day two opener

13.30 Chester: CAA Stellar Handicap (5 furlongs)

There’s plenty of high-octane Flat racing action to savour on day two, and due to small field sizes later on the card, we will tackle the opening race of the day, which has all the hallmarks of a cracking handicap over the minimum five-furlong distance.

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I have used the trends below to reduce the field from twelve runners down to three:

• 15/15 – Won from stall 7 or lower 
• 15/15 – Had won over 5f before 
• 14/15 – Returned 12/1 or shorter in the betting 
• 13/15 – Came from stall 5 or lower 
• 12/15 – Had won between 2-6 times before 
• 12/15 – Raced in the last 4 weeks 
• 11/15 – Finished in the top 7 last time out 
• 10/15 – Aged 4 or 5 years-old 
• 10/15 – Had raced at Chester before 
• 9/15 – Carried 8-10 or less in weight 
• 7/15 – Officially rated between 87-90
•  7/15 – Finished 1st or 2nd last time out 
• 7/15 – Winning favourites 
• 5/15 – Returned a double-figure price in the betting 
• 3/15 – Winners from stall 1 
• Jason Hart has ridden 3 of the last 6 winners 
• 13 of the last 14 winners came between stalls 1-4

Vintage Clarets is a course-and-distance winner and jockey Jack Garrity and Richard Fahey’s stable are in decent form. 

The five-year-old has won at Class 2 level, so is perfectly capable of winning this off his current mark, and the going should not be an issue with the ground drying out throughout the week.

Copper Knight has been around for a long time and at the age of ten, his best years would appear to be behind him. 

Trained by Tim Easterby, he won a Class 2 race off a higher mark last July, so he is not without a chance in this Class 3 company. 

Copper Knight has won multiple races over course and distance and if coping with the quicker ground, he should go close again.

Suggested best bet: Copper Knight each-way in the 13:30 at Chester

Clearpoint has one negative which is his lack of course form, but he comes here in reasonable shape after three decent performances so far this year. 

Most of his wins have been on the all-weather, but he has run well in decent races on turf, and actually won on turf and career debut two years ago. 

Simon Hodgson’s four-year-old would need to improve to win this, and I would have more confidence if this were on an all-weather surface.

This is quite a competitive race for a Class 2 handicap, and based purely on the trends I am suggesting an each way bet on Copper Knight to defy his ten-year-old legs, and as always, don’t forget to look around for extra places.

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