Chester Racecourse
2026 Season Review
When Carthusian crossed the line in the Lord Mayor’s Spooktacular Fireworks Apprentice Handicap on Saturday afternoon, the 2026 season at Chester Racecourse came to an end. It seems like only yesterday that we were publishing the first winner’s infographic for Adonius when he stormed to an all the way success in the Lily Agnes at the start of the Boodles May meeting. At that stage, Adonius was completing a hat-trick of early season successes and it was a very fitting way to start the 2026 season on the Roodee. Now that the course has finished racing for the year, we thought it would be a good time to look back at some of our favourite performances at Chester in 2026.
Boodles Chester Vase Stakes
6th May 2026
The Boodles May Festival belonged to Aidan O’Brien and the team at Ballydoyle and after Amelia Earhart won the Weatherby’s Cheshire Oaks, completing a clean sweep of our in-race speed metrics in the process, it was the turn of Benvenuto Cellini to take centre stage in the G3 Boodles Chester Vase. The future Irish Derby winner ran out a 4.5 length winner on the Roodee under Ryan Moore, moving alongside his stablemate at the 2 furlong pole before powering away with a race best late speed figure of 37.83 mph. That was impressive enough in a race run in a winning time that was more than 2s quicker than the TPD expected time figure, but it wasn’t the most eye-catching point in the data. At an average of 26.05 ft, reaching a peak of 27.01 ft, Benvenuto Cellini recorded the longest average stride length that we have ever recorded in our partnership with Chester racecourse. Watching him lengthen away in the home straight, the stride data metrics suggested that he was going to be one of the leading 3-year-old colts this year and so it proved. Although things didn’t work out at Epsom, he would go on to win the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh, beating the Epsom winner Christmas Day by over a length before adding a very respectable 3rd placed finish in the King George at Ascot to his CV. It was a very promising start to the May meeting, but another future Derby winner was soon to follow.
Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes
7th May 2026
Just 24 hours later, it would be the turn of the future Prix du Jockey Club and Eclipse Stakes winner Constitution River to take centre stage. A well backed 2/9 favourite, Constitution River stamped his class on the Dee Stakes field with a 7 length success under Ryan Moore, coming home with closing furlong splits of 11.91 and 11.70s, almost a second faster than any of his 4 rivals for the final quarter of a mile. A winning time of 2:06.54 made this the fastest winning time in the Dee Stakes in the last 20 years and pointed to the subsequent class and speed that Constitution River would show when winning at the highest level at Chantilly and Sandown as he produced yet another race best late speed figure for the Ballydoyle team (37.8 mph). The 2nd day of the May meeting also belonged to Aidan O’Brien, as Jan Brueghel would take the G3 Ladbrokes Ormonde Stakes 30 minutes later, but on the final day, it would be a former Derby winner who would step back into the winner’s enclosure.
Deepbridge Huxley Stakes
8th May 2026
It has been a very strange year for the 2025 dual Derby winner Lambourn, who has more recently been used for pacemaking duties for his younger stablemates, but there is no doubt that his best performance of the campaign came on the Roodee. Ridden aggressively by Ryan Moore, Lambourn made every yard of the running in the Huxley Stakes as he battled on in the Chester straight to beat the subsequent Coronation Cup winner Bay City Roller by a neck. A late speed figure of 39.87 mph made Lambourn the fastest finishing winner of any race over a mile or beyond on the Roodee this year and under a perfectly judged ride from Ryan Moore, he returned to his very best form to round off a superb week for the Ballydoyle team at Chester. Hindsight is a wonderful thing in racing and it is easy to say after the event, but there were some signs in the data that Bay City Roller was coming along nicely with Epsom in mind as he recorded faster splits than Lambourn in 4 of the last 5 furlongs of the Huxley Stakes. The Group races at the Boodles May meeting produced several subsequent Group 1 winners this year and were some of our favourite performances of the season in the UK as a result.
Raymond & Kathleen Corbett Memorial City Plate Stakes
11th July 2026
Perhaps the most exciting finish on the Roodee this year came in the Listed Raymond & Kathleen Corbett Memorial City Plate Stakes in July, as Northern Champion (Ed Walker) got the better of Dash of Azure and the 2 time winner of this race Holguin, in a thrilling finish. In fact, there were just 0.18s covering the first 4 horses as they crossed the line. Holguin seemed likely to win this race for a record 3rd time under Faleh Bugheniam when he kicked for home at the top of the straight, but Northern Champion was not to be denied under Ashley Lewis, battling bravely with Holguin before holding off the late finish of Dash of Azure on his outside, whilst the slightly unlucky Five Ways ran on into 4th place with a race best late speed figure of 37.33 mph. Each of the first 4 to cross the line had their chance to win this Listed event and there was less than 1 mph between all of their top and late speed figures. Both Northern Champion (Dubai) and Holguin (France) brought some strong International form to the Roodee and the big summer crowd were treated to a thrilling renewal of this race in the July sunshine.
Virgin Bet Chester Stakes
22nd August 2026
Our final highlight of the season came in the Listed Virgin Bet Chester Stakes in August and this is a personal favourite of our analyst Adam Mills. Midak was thought good enough to run in the Derby at Epsom during his time with Francis-Henri Graffard in France. He finished 10th behind Lambourn at Epsom in 2025 and since leaving the Aga Khan Stud team, he had struggled to recapture his earlier form for Ian Williams. However, after a couple of promising runs at Goodwood and Newbury, this 4-year-old by Footstepsinthesand seemed to relish the unique test that Chester presents as he battled bravely under Paul Mulrennan to win this 14 furlong Listed contest. Prominent throughout, he retook the lead with a quarter of a mile to run and battled on to hold off the late attention from the runner-up By The Book with a race best 12.74s split for the final furlong. A €300,000 purchase at the Autumn sales at Arqana in 2025, Midak had taken his time to show his best form in the famous Fitri Hay silks, but on the Roodee everything fell right for the 4-year-old as he won his first race since the Prix Greffulhe at Saint-Cloud in May 2025.
It has been a fascinating season at Chester in 2026 and there were plenty of other highlights that we could have added to this review. Racing will return to the Roodee in May 2027 and everyone at Total Performance Data is looking forward to it as we continue our partnership with Chester Racecourse.