Hugo Palmer Blog | Chester May Festival Day Two
06 May 2026
Coral Racing Ambassador, Hugo Palmer, previews the chances of his ten runners on the second day of the Chester May Festival, including Roman Dragon in the opener, who looks to retain his crown in the contest.
13:30 Chester – Roman Dragon, Stratusnine & Dubai Bling
Thursday is a busy day for us and hopefully a day we can get into the winners’ enclosure. We run three in the opener and before the draw was made for this race I was actually thinking I wouldn’t be surprised if they filled the first three places, they’re all in such super order!
I gave Oisin [Murphy] the choice of which one to ride, and he picked Roman Dragon, who goes off the same mark he won this race off last year. He's drawn well in stall three and came back in fine fettle from Bahrain. He’s also a much better horse around Chester than anywhere else, he’s a local favourite and I’m sure he’ll be well backed.
If I was Oisin, I think I may just have picked Dubai Bling, as he’s in sparkling form and seems to have just improved, although he has never been around a bend so we don’t know how he’ll handle that. There’s nothing wrong with Stratusnine either, he’s just drawn that bit wider than the other pair in stall seven. We go there with three very good horses, I just hope one of them can win it.
14:05 Chester – Jazz Queen, Donegal Rose & Koodini
We also run three in the maiden. Oisin rode Jazz Queen on debut last month but she’s drawn in ten here, so he rides Donegal Rose, another who had her first run last month. Both fillies will sharpen up enormously for those runs but that high draw for Jazz Queen is annoying, as she ran well at Newmarket considering she was a bit green and she’s been working well since.
Donegal Rose was smartly into stride at Leicester and was then hampered late on as she was really getting the hang of things. She’s the shortest priced of our trio here and it feels as if the market has it about right.
Koodini is having his first run and this will probably be the only time we run him over five furlongs. He’s one for six and maybe even seven furlongs in time, but I do like him and have no doubt he is up to winning races. As with the first race, I hope one of them can win it and the other two run well.
15:40 Chester – I’m Just Ken & King Of Thunder
I’m Just Ken has been done no favours by the draw, coming widest of all from stall 14, although the draw can be less important over seven furlongs here as they have the straight to get a position.
He’s improved for every start this year, and he looks up to winning races off this mark, albeit this is a very competitive one. We were hoping to run him here as a 2-y-o last May but he picked up an injury, so I’m just delighted we’ve got him here this year.
King Of Thunder does have a nicer draw in four, his homework has been pleasing and we liked him last year. He’s strengthened up over the winter and he’s a nimble horse who looks built for Chester, so he could go well.
16:10 Chester – Seagolazo
From three original entries, Seagolazo is the one who got into this race. I thought he ran really well on his reappearance at Redcar last month. Rather than confuse myself, I treated the start of a new season as a blank canvas with him, so I decided to take the headgear off him and drop him back to a mile to see where we are with him.
The answer is we’ve got the visor back on him and he’s back up to ten furlongs here. He’s in really good order, is a winner around Chester, and I hope he will be really competitive.
16:45 Chester – Be The Standard
Our final runner is Be The Standard. He’s a gorgeous looking horse who we loved last year. We are stepping him up in trip by half a mile, we’ll think he’ll stay but we won’t know until we try. I’d be very confident he stays a mile and a quarter, his sire gets horses who stay the mile and a half and he’s big and strong, so if he does stay, I think he’d have a good chance from a nice inside draw.
Hugo Palmer, Coral Racing Ambassador
13:30 Chester – Roman Dragon, Stratusnine & Dubai Bling
Thursday is a busy day for us and hopefully a day we can get into the winners’ enclosure. We run three in the opener and before the draw was made for this race I was actually thinking I wouldn’t be surprised if they filled the first three places, they’re all in such super order!
I gave Oisin [Murphy] the choice of which one to ride, and he picked Roman Dragon, who goes off the same mark he won this race off last year. He's drawn well in stall three and came back in fine fettle from Bahrain. He’s also a much better horse around Chester than anywhere else, he’s a local favourite and I’m sure he’ll be well backed.
If I was Oisin, I think I may just have picked Dubai Bling, as he’s in sparkling form and seems to have just improved, although he has never been around a bend so we don’t know how he’ll handle that. There’s nothing wrong with Stratusnine either, he’s just drawn that bit wider than the other pair in stall seven. We go there with three very good horses, I just hope one of them can win it.
14:05 Chester – Jazz Queen, Donegal Rose & Koodini
We also run three in the maiden. Oisin rode Jazz Queen on debut last month but she’s drawn in ten here, so he rides Donegal Rose, another who had her first run last month. Both fillies will sharpen up enormously for those runs but that high draw for Jazz Queen is annoying, as she ran well at Newmarket considering she was a bit green and she’s been working well since.
Donegal Rose was smartly into stride at Leicester and was then hampered late on as she was really getting the hang of things. She’s the shortest priced of our trio here and it feels as if the market has it about right.
Koodini is having his first run and this will probably be the only time we run him over five furlongs. He’s one for six and maybe even seven furlongs in time, but I do like him and have no doubt he is up to winning races. As with the first race, I hope one of them can win it and the other two run well.
15:40 Chester – I’m Just Ken & King Of Thunder
I’m Just Ken has been done no favours by the draw, coming widest of all from stall 14, although the draw can be less important over seven furlongs here as they have the straight to get a position.
He’s improved for every start this year, and he looks up to winning races off this mark, albeit this is a very competitive one. We were hoping to run him here as a 2-y-o last May but he picked up an injury, so I’m just delighted we’ve got him here this year.
King Of Thunder does have a nicer draw in four, his homework has been pleasing and we liked him last year. He’s strengthened up over the winter and he’s a nimble horse who looks built for Chester, so he could go well.
16:10 Chester – Seagolazo
From three original entries, Seagolazo is the one who got into this race. I thought he ran really well on his reappearance at Redcar last month. Rather than confuse myself, I treated the start of a new season as a blank canvas with him, so I decided to take the headgear off him and drop him back to a mile to see where we are with him.
The answer is we’ve got the visor back on him and he’s back up to ten furlongs here. He’s in really good order, is a winner around Chester, and I hope he will be really competitive.
16:45 Chester – Be The Standard
Our final runner is Be The Standard. He’s a gorgeous looking horse who we loved last year. We are stepping him up in trip by half a mile, we’ll think he’ll stay but we won’t know until we try. I’d be very confident he stays a mile and a quarter, his sire gets horses who stay the mile and a half and he’s big and strong, so if he does stay, I think he’d have a good chance from a nice inside draw.
Hugo Palmer, Coral Racing Ambassador
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