Key Characteristics
Considered to be the oldest racing venue in England; racing around Chester’s tight ‘Roodee’ track has taken place since 1539 and some 500 years on the track itself has changed very little – the city walls and banks of the River Dee shaping two thirds of the circuit.
Left handed and very sharp it is a circular course that’s only just over a mile round, it’s on the turn almost throughout and has a run-in of under two furlongs, heavily favouring those that race to the fore as it’s easy to find trouble behind with little time to recover.
Draw Bias & Pace Analysis
Because of the nature of the track a low draw at Chester is a huge advantage, even in middle-distance races, and particularly so in large fields.
Over 5 furlongs 84% of winners come from low draws (55% from Stall 1 alone!) in 3yr+ Handicaps.
The low draw advantage is less dramatic over longer distances however because it is also a clear advantage to be prominent or front run then a speedy horse out of the stalls who likes to front run and is drawn low is the ideal.
As just mentioned because of the tight bends all the way and the short runin, front runners are massively favoured.
In terms of the individual distances, if we look at where Chester ranks against other turf courses which have races over equivalent distances. Chester is ranked very near the top for Front Runners for every distance
5 Furlongs – 3rd out of 31 courses
6 Furlongs – 4th out of 29 courses
7 Furlongs – 1st out of 23 courses
8 Furlongs – 4th out of 25 courses
Trainers & Jockeys
| Trainer | Runners | Wins | Places | Prize Money | Strike-Rate | P/L |
| R A Fahey | 302 | 38 | 121 | £446,558 | 12.58% | -£55.30 |
| A M Balding | 113 | 27 | 43 | £321,017 | 23.89% | £43.82 |
| M Johnston | 135 | 22 | 47 | £212,378 | 16.3% | -£23.21 |
| Tom Dascombe | 175 | 19 | 63 | £173,105 | 10.86% | -£115.17 |
| T D Easterby | 90 | 15 | 21 | £158,626 | 16.67% | £19.75 |
| R Hannon | 49 | 7 | 23 | £99,178 | 14.29% | -£17.00 |
| K A Ryan | 44 | 7 | 16 | £66,608 | 15.91% | -£17.84 |
| Ian Williams | 46 | 7 | 13 | £146,104 | 15.22% | -£16.25 |
| W J Haggas | 22 | 7 | 12 | £121,326 | 31.82% | -£5.18 |
| B Ellison | 40 | 7 | 11 | £82,874 | 17.5% | £8.50 |
| Jockey | Runners | Wins | Places | Prize Money | Strike-Rate | P/L |
| F Norton | 170 | 23 | 71 | £221,342 | 13.53% | -£84.34 |
| R Kingscote | 108 | 19 | 40 | £184,269 | 17.59% | -£28.72 |
| David Probert | 71 | 15 | 25 | £117,514 | 21.13% | -£0.16 |
| Connor Murtagh | 61 | 7 | 24 | £70,821 | 11.48% | -£14.75 |
| P Mathers | 61 | 7 | 16 | £101,430 | 11.48% | -£19.25 |
| Adam J McNamara | 32 | 7 | 10 | £52,913 | 21.88% | £2.67 |
| P J McDonald | 32 | 7 | 10 | £57,003 | 21.88% | -£14.51 |
| P Hanagan | 62 | 6 | 29 | £77,304 | 9.68% | -£30.95 |
| Kevin Stott | 36 | 6 | 14 | £58,396 | 16.67% | £4.05 |
| D Nolan | 30 | 6 | 11 | £37,062 | 20% | £22.38 |
