NOTABLE NAMES, IN BOTH QUALITY AND QUANTITY, ENTERED IN THE CHESTER CUP

Cheltenham Festival thirds East India Dock and Liam Swagger head a team of six possible runners for rising star James Owen in the £170,000 Ladbrokes Chester Cup, entries for which closed today. Top class horses are scattered throughout the entries, for the highlight of the May Festival, which takes place on 9th May.

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Gavin Cromwell could also have a runner, having entered Sixandahalf, who was a good Flat winner at Newmarket last year and second in the Mares Novices’ Hurdle when favourite last month.

East India Dock, who won two Grade 2 hurdles at Cheltenham in the winter before going down by only a length to Poniros in the JCB Triumph Hurdle, and Liam Swagger, who won at Market Rasen and Wetherby before finishing third to Puturhandsup in the Fred Winter Hurdle, could be joined by Cavern Club, a hurdles winner at Doncaster last month, Charging Thunder, who has won four of his five races since joining the stable, and possibly Destinado and Sixpack.

Dual-purpose trainer Owen, a former multiple champion in both the point-to-point and Arab horse worlds, has made a sensational start as a trainer of thoroughbreds and saddled no fewer than 119 winners in the calendar year of 2024, having been granted his licence only at the start of 2023. He is well ahead of that schedule this year, with 47 winners on the board already.

Owen has his sights set firmly upon the rich pickings on offer at Chester and said: “We are keen to go to Chester with East India Dock. If he gets in I’m sure we’ll be coming. He’s rated 89, which would have got him into the main race in any of the last three years, and I think he’s well handicapped on his hurdles form.

“I think Chester will suit him. He’s not ground dependent, he’ll stay the trip, he races economically, and on his hurdles form he’s well handicapped on the Flat. We bypassed Aintree so that he could have a short little freshen up for the Flat, and I think there are a lot of pluses.”

“Liam Swagger is an intended runner too. He’s currently rated 83, but we’d like to get in the main event if we can and so he’ll go to Chelmsford in the meantime to try to pick up a penalty.”

Looking at his other principals, Newmarket trainer Owen, who now has charge of last year’s Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly, added: “Charging Thunder likes going left handed and won well at Southwell last time. He’s rated 90 and will be suited by a race of this nature. Cavern Club is headed for the consolation race probably off his rating of 81.”

The 73 entries for the 201st Ladbrokes Chester Cup also include last year’s winner Zoffee, representing locally-based trainer Hugo Palmer, and the 2023 winner Metier. There are also six entries from Ireland, including four-year-old London City, who has raced only once since winning at York last May but represents the Aidan O’Brien stable which won the race with Cleveland three years ago.

The biggest entry comes from Ian Williams, a strong supporter of the race who won with Magic Circle in 2018 and this year has no fewer than 12 possibles.

Entries who do not make the cut for the Ladbrokes Chester Cup, which has a maximum field of 17, have the option of running in the Chester Plate, a consolation race run over the same course and distance later in the afternoon.

Patrick Chesters, Director of Racing for Chester Racecourse commented, “Across the board, entries look strong in both quality and quantity for the Ladbrokes Chester Cup next month; our thanks go to all the trainers who have entered horses. This year’s race looks set up to be another great race, which celebrates its 201st anniversary in 2025.”

Patrick has recently been promoted to Director of Racing, having been with the Company for over 10 years in various roles, including Head of Gaming and GM at Bangor-on-Dee.