Few jockeys in the long history of racing at Chester have ridden the Roodee as confidently as Franny Norton, but until Friday morning, the course’s most famous and historic race was still one of the few here that had eluded him.
The runners went to post for the Chester Cup in a cloudburst of spectacular proportions, however, and as the downpour continued throughout the race, Norton drew on all his experience and trackcraft to win from front on Making Miracles, having set off from an apparently hopeless position in stall 16.
A wide draw is a huge obstacle to overcome at Chester at the best of times, but Norton – along with Ryan Moore, the rider of Low Sun in stall 17 – somehow managed to get across to the rail and lead the field out onto its first circuit.
They were still first and second three minutes later and while Low Sun, last year’s Cesarewitch winner, faded quickly after making a short-lived challenge for the lead inside the final quarter, Making Miracles stretched further clear to record one of the easiest wins in the race for some years.
Norton and Moore, from the widest stalls, were the only riders to return with the colours still visible on their silks. Who Dares Wins made the frame for the third time in as many years, just in front of Whiskey Sour, who finished strongly having had just one horse behind him in the early stages.
“I was drawn in 16 and they said I couldn’t win from there,” Norton said afterwards, “but I had a good, willing partner. I was able to go at the fractions I wanted to go and then it was nice and easy. When Ryan came to me, I knew I had a horse underneath me. It’s beautiful as it was a race I wanted to win.”
Mark Johnston, the winner’s trainer, also fielded the beaten favourite in Austrian School, who could not cope with the conditions.
“We thought beforehand that you would struggle to win with double -figures [in the stalls],” Johnston said. “I saw him get across without too much effort and he was able to relax in front, never going that strong a pace. Clearly anybody who was in behind in that melee was in trouble.
“Franny is the same at any track in the country, he brims with confidence. He believes he is as good as anybody and he comes into his own on a difficult track like Chester.”
Richard Fahey was inclined to look for races abroad for Forest Ranger after his second successive win in the Huxley Stakes as a Group Two penalty could make life difficult in Britain, but Norman Steel, his owner, has other ideas and hopes to see his five-year-old line up for the Diomed Stakes at Epsom on Derby day.
Steel, who is based in County Kildare, missed Forest Ranger’s success in the first renewal of the Huxley following its upgrade to Group Two level last year when his ferry from Ireland was cancelled. He made it to the Roodee this time around, however, and was rewarded with a straightforward win for Forest Ranger, who was ideally placed behind the pace by Tony Hamilton before kicking for home a furlong out.
“He’ll carry a 5lb penalty, but he’ll go to the Diomed next,” Steel said. “That’s his next race unless Richard wants to go to France or Ireland. Then probably the York Stakes at York or something like that.”
Derby and Oaks trials will once again take centre stage for British fans over the next seven days, and Too Darn Hot, last year’s champion juvenile, has been confirmed as a likely runner in next Thursday’s Dante Stakes at York following a workout in Newmarket on Friday morning, his first exercise on grass for a month.
Too Darn Hot is one of a dozen colts still engaged in next week’s Group Two contest on the Knavesmire after the latest declaration stage, along with Japan, last year’s Beresford Stakes winner, and Line Of Duty, who took the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for Godolphin’s Charlie Appleby.
Too Darn Hot was the highest-rated juvenile since Frankel in 2010 at the end of last season but he was forced to miss his intended reappearance in the 2,000 Guineas earlier this month at Newmarket after suffering a minor setback. He is still at or close to the top of the Derby betting with most bookmakers at around 9-2.
Market Rasen 1.40 St Gallen 2.10 Compadre 2.45 Orkan 3.20 Becky The Thatcher 3.55 Deja Bougg 4.30 Misdflight 5.05 Konigin Ara
Chester 1.50 Ptarmigan Ridge 2.25 Forest Ranger (nap) 3.00 Epaulement 3.35 Whiskey Sour (nb) 4.10 Kachy 4.40 Bahama Moon 5.15 Coeur De Lion
Ascot 2.00 Final Song 2.35 Cape Cavalli 3.10 Swindler 3.45 Diamond Dougal 4.20 King Ademar 4.55 Awe 5.30 Agrapart
Nottingham 5.20 Daddies Diva 5.50 Global Melody 6.20 Pondus 6.50 Patchouli 7.20 Twist ‘N’ Shake 7.50 Give It Some Teddy 8.20 Sussex Girl
Wolverhampton 5.40 Wye Bother 6.10 Heron 6.40 War Storm 7.10 Howardian Hills 7.40 Lothario 8.10 Anna Bunina 8.40 Jalaad
Ripon 6.00 Birkenhead 6.30 Izvestia 7.00 Queens Gift 7.30 Acclaim The Nation (nb) 8.00 In Trutina 8.30 So Near So Farhh
