The trophy – and the 30lb Cheshire cheese that comes with it – were handed to Alan Peterson, the owner of Zoffee, after the Chester Cup here on Friday, but it was a sign of how much this unique race means to the locals that Michael Owen, the landlord of Manor House Stables where Zoffee is trained by Hugo Palmer, was celebrating as if he had just scored the winner in an FA Cup final. “That’s pretty much a lifelong dream to win that race,” Owen said. “I said to the owner before the race: ‘I know it’s your horse, but they’re all mine at Manor House,’ that’s how it feels.”
Victory for a yard that was built from scratch by one of Chester’s most famous sons was, in many respects, the ideal result in a race that marked the Chester Cup’s 200th anniversary.
Zoffee had been denied in the final strides 12 months ago, but he was 3lb lower in the weights this time around and he enjoyed a copybook Chester ride from 18-year-old Harry Davies, who has been a part of Palmer’s operation since, as the trainer put it, “he needed to stand on a bucket to put the tack on his pony”.
Davies got away swiftly from stall one and saved ground on the rail through two circuits of the Roodee before asking Zoffee to quicken past the front-running Aztec Empire well inside the final furlong.
“We all love this horse,” Palmer said. “He might not be the highest-rated horse in the yard, but he’s got the loveliest look on his face and he loves his job.
“Me and Harry have been a big part of each other’s lives for a long time. His mum Angie is my assistant, and she’s been with me for 12 years and Harry’s only 18. He’s been in the yard a long time, we kept racing ponies for him in [Palmer’s old yard in] Newmarket.
“This is a massive, historic race and the 200th year. There aren’t many handicaps outside Royal Ascot that have this prestige, so it means a lot being local, and we were third two years ago and second last year, so we’ve been inching closer.
“We’ve said last year that we’d come back and win this year, Harry rode his first stakes winner for us last year, he’s won this race for us now and with a bit of luck he might ride his first Group winner at Lingfield for us tomorrow [on Stenton Glider].”
The Huxley Stakes is one of the more recent additions to the May Festival’s programme but it is the only Group Two of the big meeting here and saw a deeply impressive winner on Friday as Sir Michael Stoute’s Passenger showed a Group One turn of foot to run down Israr in the straight and potentially book himself a place in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
Lingfield Park
1.15 Esmeray
1.50 Aimeric
2.25 Danielle
3.00 Ambiente Friendly
3.35 Remarquee
4.10 Inner Temple
4.45 Soldiers Design
Ascot
1.30 Kotari
2.05 Mother Mary
2.40 Streets Of Gold (nap)
3.10 Rokuni
3.45 Too Bossy For Us
4.20 Turn Up The Heat
4.55 Northcliff
Haydock Park
1.35 Lord Snootie
2.10 Cerulean Bay
2.45 Zozimus
3.15 Afadil (nb)
3.50 Poet Master
4.25 Treasure Cove
5.00 Minstrel Knight
Nottingham
1.45 Russian Rumour
2.20 Call To Action
2.55 Star Of Lady M
3.30 Grace Angel
4.05 Clear Angel
4.40 Classy Boy
5.15 Restricted
Hexham
4.00 Whosmydaddy
4.35 Chase A Fortune
5.10 Cool Desire
5.45 I Am Max
6.15 Guard The Moon
6.45 Ebselysees
Leicester
5.20 Ant Colony
5.55 Captain Dandy
6.25 Fiddlers Green
6.55 Bell Shot
7.25 Fair Point
7.55 Law Supreme
8.25 Isle Of Wolves
Warwick
5.35 Time For A Pint
6.05 El Curamach
6.35 Crypto Currency
7.05 Manorbank
7.35 Sister Michael
8.05 Way Out
8.35 Kingston Pride
Passenger was sent off as an 8-1 chance for last year’s Derby at Epsom, just six weeks after making a successful racecourse debut in the Wood Ditton Stakes at Newmarket and following a luckless run into third in the Dante at York.
He failed to cope with the fast-track into Group One company, but Passenger could hardly have made a more promising start to his four-year-old season, for a trainer who has few, if any, peers when it comes to late-maturing horses.
Passenger’s career has many echoes of that of his sire, Ulysses, who also ran down the field in the Derby – at odds of 8-1 – in 2016 before blossoming into a dual Group One winner, in the Eclipse Stakes and the International Stakes, as a four-year-old.
He broke the track record in Friday’s success and while he was initially quoted at 14-1 for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes after crossing the line, that was soon cut to a more realistic 11-2.
Victoria Cup boasts strong field
The Victoria Cup on Saturday is the first of the year’s grand charges down the straight track at Ascot and a typically strong renewal includes plenty of contenders with solid course form to their name already.
That group includes course-and-distance winner Pearle D’Or, who is vying for favouritism with Mostabshir, sixth of nine – albeit on the round course – in last year’s Group One St James’s Palace Stakes.
There is a similar case to be made for several rivals at better prices, however, including Streets Of Gold (2.40) at a top price of 18-1 in the early lists. Eve Johnson Houghton’s gelding was a fine third of 15 runners over this trip in the Jersey Stakes last summer, will get the strong pace he loves to chase and Georgia Dobie’s 3lb claim is a bonus too.
Ascot 1.30. The step up to 12 furlongs could well coax further improvement from Kotari after two convincing wins over 10.
Lingfield 1.50. Roger Varian had Aimeric straight enough to win on his seasonal debut in 2023 and his lightly-raced five-year-old remains on a fair mark.
Ascot 2.05. Mother Mary ran as well as could be expected when upped to Listed company for her seasonal debut and has plenty of scope for progress back handicapping on what will be only her sixth start.
Lingfield 2.25. All but one of the runners in the Oaks Trial are still in the Classic, including the current second-favourite in the ante-post lists, Danielle. John Gosden’s filly was a 12-length winner on the bit at Wetherby in April and should book her place in the field at Epsom.
Lingfield 3.00. Ambiente Friendly is a double-figure price for the Derby Trial but looked sure to come on for the run when fourth at Newmarket in April and his juvenile form when third in the Autumn Stakes looks solid.
Haydock 3.15. Cheltenham Festival winner Lark In The Mornin sets a high standard but quicker ground makes this a different test and Afadil, a close fourth in the Scottish Champion Hurdle last time, will be a tough opponent with Freddie Gingell taking off 3lb.
Lingfield 3.35. Remarquee ran well in several Group Ones last season and will be very hard to beat assuming she is straight enough to do herself justice here.
