Three horses who will relish easing conditions on the opening day at Chester

The ground at Chester has eased to good to soft for the opening day of the Boodles May festival, a card that features the Cheshire Oaks (2.15) and Chester Vase (3.15).

Chester had 26mm of rain on Monday, a further 5mm on Tuesday and the forecast remains unsettled for the three-day meeting.

On Tuesday, clerk of the course Andrew Morris said: "We've had 26mm of rain over the past 24 hours and we'll see a few more showers going into tomorrow. If we get another 5mm, which is perfectly possible, I could see us being good to soft, soft in places or maybe the other way round. The forecast for the week looks unsettled without there being too much rain forecast after tonight."

Here are three horses who will relish the easing conditions on day one on Wednesday.

Chester Vase Stakes (3.15)

Fancy Man is the only horse in the six-runner field to have run on ground officially described as good to soft when second behind Cobh in the Listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury in August.

The Richard Hannon-trained colt has won twice in four starts and those successes came on soft ground on his debut and in the Listed Ascendant Stakes at Haydock where he won by three and a quarter lengths in September. The three-year-old is stepping up to this trip for the first time.

tote+ Pays You More At tote.co.uk Handicap (3.45)

The Nigel Tinkler-trained Imperium Blue has a 50 per cent strike-rate from two starts on good to soft ground after winning a novice at Ripon in September on his final start for Jamie Osborne.

The three-year-old has also got respectable form on soft ground, winning at York before finishing second at Nottingham on his penultimate start last season. He finished down the field on soft ground over 6f last time, but has been gelded since.

Deepbridge Estate Planning Service Handicap (4.45)

Redrosezorro has won three times from eight starts on good to soft ground, most recently when scoring over 6f at Carlisle in August 2019, while he also has winning form on the surface over this trip.

Redrosezorro (red silks): good record on a slow surfaceCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

The seven-year-old's last three wins have come on soft or heavy ground, including when winning a 6f handicap at Catterick in October.

Chester Wednesday card

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