Racing tips: Stall 1 could see it tough for them to catch Wobwobwob

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Day 2 of the May Chester Festival was much better than day 1 for me, as we had a winner at advised odds of 4/1 and Lone Eagle ran a belter to finish 2nd at Advised odds of 20/1, but the profit was reduced from the rule 4.

Chester 1:30 – Wobwobwob 11/2 (1pt EW 4pl)

The horse I like in this race is the one right at the bottom of the weights, Wobwobwob. This horse will want to make every yard around the inside rail from the front, and he has stall 1 to do it from, so as long as he breaks on terms, he has the perfect opportunity to do what I expect him to.

He will have competition for the lead, so he'll have to break well to ensure he gets the rail and gets his own way in front. If he does, he could be dangerous to ignore as I think he can run a big race off his current handicap mark. I wouldn't say he's well-handicapped, but I wouldn't say many if any are deemed well-handicapped, and if they are, they either won't like the conditions or they have a rubbish stall.

He has made an encouraging return to racing this season, with a fourth-placed effort followed up by a runner-up finish behind a smart-looking horse from the Haggas stable. He was 4L behind the winner that day, but he was 2L clear of the third who was a further 3L clear of the fourth. The fifth-placed horse ran well at Chester yesterday, so the form looks fairly solid.

Chester 2:05 – Baryshnikov 9/2 (1pt WHill/Betfair/Coral)

Stall 7 isn't ideal for last year's winner of this race, Baryshnikov, but this horse loves Chester and is 3/4 at the track so has to be very respected back at one of his favourite venues.

This horse probably has a better chance of winning this race this year than he did last year, he will be running off the equivalent of a mark of 88 as young Billy Loughnane takes off 3lbs from his current rating of 91. He won this race last year off a mark of 91 and won it by a length to an in-form horse. I think this year's prep has been good and his starting odds of 8/1 and 25/1 would suggest he's been left undercooked for those races and will be primed for today's visit to Chester where he can try and retain his crown. I thought his most recent run at Pontefract was a great effort, he didn't get an ideal passage through the field and managed to finish 3rd of 12.

Billy Loughnane is always an eye-catching jockey booking for as long as he has his claim, as it is daylight robbery that he can have a claim. He's a superb jockey and the fact he's on board last year's winner is something I take great confidence in.

Chester 3:15 – Vino Victrix 14/1 (0.5pt EW B365 5pl)

The more I look at this race the more I think Vino Victrix has a great chance in it. I just believe that he has more to give off his current handicap mark than most of the others in the race do with their ratings.

He is now a 5yo and is still a quirky horse, but he showed last year that he is capable of running very well in competitive staying handicaps when he finished 2nd in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket. I'd ignore his run on seasonal reappearance as that was evidently a run to get hit fitness up, and they'd have had this race planned for a while so it would've been used to blow away the cobwebs. My main concern is if the ground is really testing, as his runs on soft haven't been the best, but there's no rain forecast for the morning, so hopefully it'll dry out a little as he seems comfortable on good to soft. I won't be going crazy with the stakes as it's clearly a competitive big-runner handicap at Chester, but I think he is well up to the task of running a good race.

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