Paul Kealy's play of the day at Chester

Absurde

3.05 Chester

If there is a bet at Chester it is surely Absurde in the Ladbrokes Big-Value You Can Bet On Ormonde Stakes (3.05).

Illinois, the warm favourite for Aidan O'Brien, who has had three winning favourites and three losing favourites in the last seven years, is the class act but he does carry a 5lb penalty for his Group 2 success at Longchamp and that should make things interesting.

He's going to have pace pressure from the admirably tough but 3lb-penalised Al Qareem, so there's a fair chance Absurde, without any sort of penalty, can stalk them and pounce late.

He seems to thrive on his racing, and after running a somewhat tenderly handled third to stablemate Kargese in the County Hurdle, he danced in at Plumpton in the Sussex Champion Hurdle next time.

Fifth in the Melbourne Cup when last seen on the Flat, Absurde cruised home over a furlong further than this 1m5½f at Chester last August in Listed company.

At these weights he isn't going to have to be much better to be a real threat, especially as Illinois is a big horse who will need to be better balanced at Chester than he was when all over the place coming round the bend in last year's Derby Trial at Lingfield. 

Racing Post+ subscribers can read more of Paul Kealy's tipping here:

Paul Kealy's best bets at Chester on Thursday include a Willie Mullins-trained raider and an 'evergreen old boy'  

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