Chester Vase

The Chester Vase is a Group 3 race for three-year-old colts and geldings over a mile and a half.

The Chester Vase takes place on the 8th of May 2024.

It is held on the opening day of the Chester May Festival and is a significant Epsom Derby trial.

Famous past winners include Henbit (1980), Shergar (1981) and Ruler Of The World (2013).

Check out more about the Chester Vase:

Race Overview – The Chester Vase

The Chester Vase is a Group 3 flat horse race for three-year-old colts and geldings contested in the United Kingdom.

It is run in May over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs, and 63 yards at Chester.

The Chester Vase is held on day 1 of the Chester May Festival at Chester Racecourse.

Chester Vase 2024 Odds

Here are the latest odds for the Chester Vase in May 2024:

These odds have not yet been released.

Chester Vase 2024 Tips

Here are some tips for Chester Vase in May 2024:

• 2 points to win for TBC
• 1 point each way for TBC

Some of the horses in the Chester Vase will run in other events later in the year. Stay updated on the horses and place ante-post bets if you want to wager on them.

Here is the list of tips for Chester Races today from promising shrewd punters who analyse key information like the Chester Draw Bias.

Our great horse racing tipsters give free daily betting tips for today’s Chester events.

Famous Chester Vase Winners

The Chester Vase is one of the first serious trials for the Derby and produced back-to-back Epsom winners with Henbit (1980) and Shergar (1981). Henbit was trained by Major Dick Hern and ridden by Willie Carson. Unfortunately, his racing career was interrupted by injury and was not able to reproduce his Epsom form as a four-year-old.

Shergar was a brilliant winner of the Chester Vase for Michael Stoute and Walter Swinburn. Racing in the famous green silks of His Highness The Aga Khan, the colt went on to win the Derby by a record ten lengths. He won the Irish Derby in effortless fashion with Lester Piggott aboard and also won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

Shergar will sadly be remembered more for his tragic ending rather than his brilliant racing career. He was stolen from the Aga Khan’s stud farm in Ireland and held to ransom. It is believed that his captors were inexperienced in handling horses and that Shergar was killed, although his story remains shrouded in mystery.

The high level of Chester Vase winners was maintained in the eighties and early nineties. Law Society (1985) finished second at Epsom before winning the Irish Derby. Unfuwain (1988), Old Vic (1989), Belmez (1990) and Toulon (1991) were other top-class winners who went on to record multiple Group 1 victories.

The most recent horse to complete the Chester Vase/Epsom Derby double was Ruler Of The World in 2013. He was trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, a combination that have enjoyed unprecedented success in this event. Wings Of Eagles finished an eye-catching second in the Vase in 2017 and went one better at Epsom.

Chester Vase Previous Winners

Here are the previous winners for the Chester Vase.

Chester Vase Previous Result

The 2023 result for the Chester Vase on the Chester Horse Racing Track is below:

Chester Vase Betting Trends

Five of the last eleven Chester Vase winners started favourite. Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore were responsible for all of them; Ruler Of The World (2013), Orchestra (2014), Hans Holbein (2015), US Army Ranger (2016) and Venice Beach (2017). US Army Ranger was by far the shortest-priced of those, starting at a prohibitive 4-11 favourite.

The race invariably attracts a small field.

The biggest field assembled in the last eleven renewals was in 2018 when Young Rascal defeated nine rivals.

Shock results are rare with Mickdaam (2012) being the longest-priced during the same period, returning at odds of 8-1 for Richard Fahey and Tony Hamilton.

Youth Spirit (2021) was a fraction shorter at 15-2 while Sir Dragonet won at 13-2 in 2019.

Chester Vase – Top Trainers and Jockeys

Aidan O’Brien has made this race his own in modern times, racking up a record ten victories. His winners to date; Soldier Of Fortune (2007), Golden Sword (2009), Treasure Beach (2011), Ruler Of The World (2013), Orchestra (2014), Hans Holbein (2015), US Army Ranger (2016), Venice Beach (2017), Sir Dragonet (2019) and Changingoftheguard (2022).

Of those, only Ruler Of The World has gone on to win the Derby, although he also trained Wings Of Eagles, runner-up at Chester and a winner at Epsom. With those ten victories coming in the last fifteen renewals, there has been little scope for other trainers to make their mark.

Sir Michael Stoute famously won here with Shergar and has subsequently scored with Papal Bull (2006) and Doctor Fremantle (2008).

Ryan Moore has a record eight race victories in this event, all for Aidan O’Brien. The two Ballydoyle runners not partnered by Moore were Golden Sword (2009) ridden by Colm O’Donoghue and Sir Dragonet (2019) ridden by Donnacha O’Brien.

Betting on the Chester Vase

The Chester Vase may not quite be the goldmine of talent that it was in the eighties and early nineties but it can still produce a top-class colt.

Aidan O’Brien always sends one or more exciting prospects to this event with Derby winners Ruler Of The World and Wings Of Eagles both taking this route to Epsom. His entries are certainly worth noting with a view to the Epsom Classic.

Summary of Chester Vase

The Chester Vase is held during the Boodles May Festival along with other races such as the Chester Cup, Dee Stakes and the Ormonde Stakes.

We hope you found the information you needed from our Chester Vase page, we have looked at betting, tips and more so you have all the info you need – thank you for reading.

Check out our guides to all the other Group 3 horse races.

Cheshire May Festival Information Articles