Illinois justified 6/5 favouritism in the Ladbrokes Big-Value You Can Bet On Ormonde Stakes to complete a clean sweep for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore in Chester’s feature races.
Having won the Chester Vase and Cheshire Oaks with Lambourn and Minnie Hauk respectively on Wednesday, the Ballydoyle team had already struck gold on day two of the May Festival courtesy of Mount Kilimanjaro in the Dee Stakes, and Illinois proved popular in the betting market despite carrying a penalty on his seasonal debut.
Victory for the Galileo colt was seemingly relatively straightforward in the end, the four-year-old sitting in second as Al Qareem took the six-runner field along in the mile and five-furlong contest.
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The front-runner started to come under the pump turning out of the back and Illinois gave chase before sneaking up that one’s inside and taking up the running with a couple of furlongs to run.
Absurde was still going well enough for William Buick in behind and got within a couple of lengths but Illinois was still had something up his sleeve and stuck to the task well to hold the rallying Al Qareem (7/1) by a length and a quarter, with Willie Mullins’ 15/8 chance Absurde having to settle for third, half a length behind the runner-up.
It was a seventh career win in the Ormonde for O'Brien, who passes Sir Michael Stoute to become the most successful trainer in the Group 3 event.
Moore said on ITV Racing: "He's a very good horse, he didn't do anything wrong last year. He was second in the Leger, he won at Royal Ascot, won on Arc day (Prix Chaudenay).
"He's a very consistent horse. He's a huge, big beast and very powerful. The ground was probably just a notch slower than ideal for him but he's won with a penalty there and the well-run race has suited him.
"He'll definitely improve for the run."
Paddy Power and Betfair make Illinois 8/1 from 14/1 for the Coronation Cup at Epsom early next month.
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