Chester Cup celebrates 200 years of thrills under Roman walls
Zoffee one to watch in a race that is never easy to predict in marathon contest round tight turns of the Roodee
Adouble century is an impressive age for any sporting event, so there promises to be a party atmosphere at Chester racecourse today when the country’s oldest active racecourse celebrates the 200th anniversary of its most popular race, the Chester Cup.
The annual charge around two-and-a-bit circuits of this unique, almost circular, track was first run in 1824 as the Tradesman’s Cup, and has been beguiling and frustrating punters in equal measure ever since. It is not quite the oldest race at a course that staged its first recorded meeting in 1539 – yesterday’s Dee Stakes dates back to 1813 – or the oldest still-extant handicap, a title that is narrowly held by the Goodwood Stakes, first run in 1823.
But it was already well established in the British sporting landscape long before events such as the Open, Wimbledon and the FA Cup final had been conceived, and while some might sneer it is “just” a handicap, that, along with its stunning setting below Chester’s Roman walls, is a key factor in its enduring popularity.
At its heart it is one of the great racing spectacles and, much like the Grand National at nearby Aintree, an event deeply rooted in its course and surroundings.
It is impossible to imagine the Chester Cup at any other track, and while Classics and Group Ones such as the Derby are the preserve of billionaires and sovereign wealth, owning a big handicap winner, on the other hand, can be much more about luck than money. That, in turn, can turn a race such as the Chester Cup into an obsession for some owners and trainers. Dr Marwan Koukash often suggested that “the Chester Cup and the Melbourne Cup are the two greatest races on earth”, and his colours were ever-present on the Roodee, winning today’s main event four times before it all went wrong for the now-bankrupt former owner.
The most successful trainer in Chester Cup history is Barry Hills, who saddled four winners among dozens of successes at the May meeting in the years when his leading owner, Robert Sangster, would commute to Chester from his tax exile on the Isle of Man.
Over the past 200 years there have also been many plunges and gambles on the Cup, some of which landed and others that went astray, and victories for hugely popular names such as Sea Pigeon, who won two Chester Cups, in 1977 and 1978, before landing the Champion Hurdle over jumps in 1980 and 1981. The first 50 racegoers today that have a namesake among the 17 jockeys in the Chester Cup will be admitted free, although as ever, the walls will also be available for a free view of the action.
On the significant question of where their money should go, the Chester Cup has had only two winning favourites this century, and heads into its third century with a renewal as deep and competitive as ever.
Leading jumps trainers have also started to target this race in recent seasons, with Harry Fry, Nicky Henderson and Donald McCain all saddling winners since 2012, and Emmet Mullins’s The Shunter, a handicap chase winner at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021, will be a popular choice to follow up his win in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket last October.
He has a tricky draw in stall
13, however, and whether quick ground on a turning track such as Chester is quite what he needs is debatable.
A better alternative could be Zoffee (3.40), who has a good draw in stall one, was in front until the final strides 12 months ago and races off a 3lb lower mark today. He recently rejoined the local trainer Hugo Palmer after a couple of races over hurdles for Olly Murphy and will almost certainly have been aimed at this race since his near miss 12 months ago.