As race season gets underway today (Wednesday, May 7) with the Boodles May Festival at Chester Racecourse, organisers have promised a a touch of excitement should there be a photo finish.

Last season, 29 out of 104 races resulted in the call for a photo finish and the team have commissioned a video to increase crowd participation in the exciting moment.

Produced in collaboration with Equine Productions, the short interactive video will feature two horses vying for race victory, photographer snap shop bulbs popping when horses pass the winning post and a series of quirky messages to build the momentum to a result being called.

Chester Racecourse Racing Manager Andrew Morris said: “When race finishes are close, it’s really exciting and we wanted to bring the crowd closer to that excitement by involving them in the process of a photo finish.  We already know that by having a stake in a race, even if it is a £2 bet, the enjoyment factor is raised.  We look forward to a few close finishes this week.”

A winning formula

Chester Racecourse’s experts have devised a winning formula in a bid to help racegoers pick the winner of the StanJames.com Chester Cup today. 

Specialists at the oldest English racecourse, which lies on the banks of the River Dee, have provided some hints to help those struggling to pick a winner, based on the unique trends of previous Chester Cup winners:

  1. The average age of a successful horse should be five. Previous five-year-old winners have included Star Player, Western Dancer and Admiral.
  2. History tells us that since the beginning of Chester Races, thirty winning horses have had two words in their names, including Super Nova, Fantasy Hill and Rainbow High.
  3. If you’re taking this formula to the tee, experts recommend placing a wager on horses that have exactly nine letters in their name, such as Contester.
  4. Chester Racecourse, known as The Roodee, has held the Chester Cup since 1824 and specialists in the field also suggest horses whose names start with the popular letter A are also successful – last year’s winner Address Unknown reflecting this trend.
  5. The final part of Chester’s formula is the exact weight carried by the winner.  8 stone 5 pounds is a successful weight, however, this can be ruled out on the basis the lowest weight carried this year is 8 stone 13.

Using the formula devised the team predicts that horses standing a good chance include; Open Eagle, White Nile and Angel Gabrial. 

The Stanjames.com Chester Cup race will take place at 2.45pm today, Wednesday.

Get social

This week during the Boodles May Festival, social media followers will be able to watch a mini round- up programme, going behind the scenes with Good Morning Chester – The Festival Edition.

A competition to find a new presenting talent via YouTube was won by Chester freelance sports writer Rob Jeffries.

The production, again produced by Equine Productions will be shared via Twitter and Facebook and link to YouTube and will include a behind the scenes look at preparations for the Festival, which attracts 60,000 racegoers over the three days.  

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