Chester May Festival 2024 day three: Aqwaam can win the Chester Cup

AQWAAM can give win the Duke Of Westminster Supporting The Chester Cup (Heritage Handicap) (3.40pm) on the final day of the Boodles Chester May Festival.

Ian Williams' six-year-old, set to be ridden by Liverpool-born jockey Franny Norton, can land the feature on the final day of the May meeting on the Roodee. Liverpool FC Norton is now one of the weighing room veterans and will be 53 at the end of July. The Belle Vale rider has had plenty of success on the Roodee over the years and is known as a Chester specialist. But it took him until 2019 to win the track's biggest and oldest race, the Chester Cup, when he partnered Mark Johnston's Making Miracles to score at 16-1. He was beaten a short-head by Bangalore I on Dermot Weld's Ansar in 2000 and third on Johnston's Gulf Of Naples in 2012 before he won he eventually won the one race he had coveted at his favourite track. Now it looks like he has a fine chance of another success as the clocks ticks towards the end of his career.

Trainer Williams is always to be feared in these long-distance handicaps and he has won the Chester Cup twice with Bulwark in 2008 and Magic Circle 10 years later. And Aqwaam looks like he can give him a third victory. The six-year-old was in good form earlier in the year on the all-weather. He was second twice at Wolverhampton before he won the BetUK All-Weather Vase Marathon Handicap on the All-Weather Championship finals card at Lingfield on Good Friday. He disappointed at Kempton last month but he is better than that and can land a first success on Turf since scoring at the Galway Festival in July 2022.

He looks to have an ideal draw in stall six to get an good early position and the step up to 2m2½f could bring out the required improvement