Coral Racing Ambassador, Hugo Palmer, provides an exclusive preview of his six runners on the first day of the Chester May Meeting, including his two entries in the Class 2 Lily Agnes Stakes.

13:30 Chester – Siobhanbrogan

Although she disappointed us at Newcastle last time, Siobhanbrogan’s work has really pleased us since. She hasn’t been done many favours by the draw out in stall 14, but she’s always shown really good gate speed, so I’m hopeful she can get out and get across into a good position. Sometimes you’d just take your medicine and hope the gaps open up, but with 14 runners in there, we might just have to be brave and try to get into a decent position and see how we get on.

She’s a filly who has ability, so although she might be quite a big price, she could run a nice race if things work out from that wide draw.

13:30 Chester – Auric

Although the draw has been a little bit kinder for Auric, it’s still not ideal in stall 8. He’s a smashing horse though, and Oisin felt he was unlucky not to win last time, so he’ll be hoping to make amends this time around. He’s coming forward all the time, and I think he goes there with a chance, but I do think this horse will be running over seven furlongs before long, so my only worry would be whether six furlongs around here might just be on the sharp side for him.

He’s a winner over six furlongs only two starts ago, so with it being likely that he’ll have a strong pace to aim at he might be absolutely fine, but it would just be a nagging doubt at a track as sharp as Chester.

14:05 Chester – Arabian Cobra

Arabian Cobra is a really nice unraced colt out of a two-year-old winning sprinter, and he has shown us plenty of pace at home. We wouldn’t be that renowned for having winners first time out, but we have had a winning debutant at Newmarket this year, and Arabian Cobra would probably know more than she did going here, so I’d like to think he can equip himself well here.

Both our horses in this race are drawn slightly wide, but there does look to be a lot of pace in the race, so at least they’ll go a good tempo, and hopefully we can just sit in behind that.

14:05 Chester – Herecomesthebear

Herecomesthebear is another nice colt having his first run, and similar to Arabian Cobra, he’s shown plenty of speed at home on the gallops. He’s drawn next to our other runner, but as I touched on earlier, when you go through the opposition who have had a run, nearly all of them were right up on the speed, so they are going to go fairly quick here which will hopefully allow our pair to settle in behind.

They’ve both pleased us with their work of late, so I would struggle to separate them, but it does look a competitive renewal of the Lily Agnes, so I’d be pleased if they both show up well and have a nice introduction.

16:10 Chester – Prince Iago

I’m sure Prince Iago will be winning races in time, but whether he’s up to winning races of this quality just yet I’m not so sure. He can’t get into those restricted races which makes him a bit tougher to place, and running in these open maiden races does make life tricky for him.

I suspect he’ll need a mile and a half and handicaps before we see the best of him, but he’ll learn plenty tomorrow going around Chester, and hopefully he can take a step forward from that debut effort at Newmarket a few weeks ago.

16:45 Chester – He’s A Gentleman

He did a bit of work at the Rowley Mile with Kitteridge the other day, and he skipped along on the ground there, so although his three wins have come on the all-weather, there’s no reason why he can’t get his head in front on turf. He has plenty of placed form on the grass, so he just needs everything to fall right for him. He’s another who’s had some rotten luck with the draw out in stall 10, but we claim a handy 5lb off him Brandon Wilkie on board, so hopefully that can help him a little bit in this race.

Hugo Palmer, Coral Racing Ambassador