Chester Friday review, reaction and free video replays

Chester Cup joy for Value Bet followers

Metier, a rare '2pts win' selection for Matt Brocklebank in his Value Bet column, came home strongly to win the tote Chester Cup.

Posted wide through the final three furlongs, Harry Fry's charge went in pursuit of the leader Zoffee off the last turn. Sent off at 5/1, it was clear in the closing stages Saffie Osborne and willing partner Metier were going to get there and they did so, going on to score by a neck.

Gamble of the race Call My Bluff (11/4 favourite) ran on for third ahead of Law Of The Sea (40/1) and Zoffee's Hugo Palmer stablemate Rakinsky (14/1).

The winning rider said: “It didn’t really go right through the race, I was too far back and he was all guts. I was saying what a tough horse he is, but he’s also extremely talented and still fairly unexposed at this trip on the Flat. You’d like to think there’s more left in the tank.

“He’s just got a lot of ability and for a big horse he’s very well balanced to go round a track like this. I was having to make up ground on a part of a track that I didn’t really want to have to, but he was making it feel very easy and I didn’t want to check his momentum.”

Winning trainer Harry Fry, paying his first ever visit to Chester, said: “We’ve had some good runs and near misses in big races, but this means such a lot – it keeps our head above the parapet. We knew the draw (stall 14) wasn’t ideal, but Saffie sat as far forward as she could. She’s given him an absolutely wonderful ride.

“Watching him go past here on the final circuit he was 12th, but all he’s done in the straight is keep rolling and rolling. He’s shown all his best form on slower ground, but getting the right horses at the right time is really what it boils down to. It’s my first time here at Chester and walking round the course I thought ‘what an amazing place’.”

Lonsdale survives Huxley scare

Favourite-backers were made to sweat before eventually collecting their winnings as Point Lonsdale toughed out victory in the IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley Stakes.

Successful in four of his five juvenile starts two years ago, the Australia colt only made it to the racecourse once as a three-year-old, finishing down the field in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. However, having proved his talent remains intact with a comeback victory in the Group Three Alleged Stakes at the Curragh last month, he was a 5/6 shot to give trainer Aidan O’Brien a fourth Huxley Stakes win and he ultimately got the job done, albeit in workmanlike fashion.

It was not easy viewing for his supporters, with Ryan Moore rowing along in the saddle a long way from home in behind the pace-setting Poker Face.

But to his credit, Point Lonsdale kept responding to his rider’s urgings and after striking the front in the straight, he had enough in hand to see off the late charge of Mujtaba by a neck.

Moore said: “He was a good two-year-old who won a Listed race, a Group Three and a Group Two but he wasn’t around for most of last year. It wasn’t very pretty, was it? He’s a real galloper and he probably hasn’t been round a tight track like this before. He’s only really been to the Curragh, Leopardstown and Ascot and he was just a bit unsure what to do with himself.

"Today’s race was well up to standard and the track didn’t suit him, but he has a great attitude to be fair to him and plenty of ability. It was a very good performance.”

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