A Piece Of Heaven returns Chester to even keel after ground chaos
A Piece Of Heaven’s 7-1 success in the Chester Cup, the most popular and historic race of the year at the world’s oldest racecourse, was a fine way to round off the track’s May festival meeting on Friday, not least after a day when, for around an hour or so in early afternoon, the event had teetered on the edge of an expensive, embarrassing disaster.The odds that the middle day of Chester’s showpiece event would be abandoned, with around 15,000 spectators at the track for Ladies’ Day, seemed to be shortening at 2.30pm on Thursday, as a delegation of jockeys and trainers inspected the turf on the home turn.Several riders had reported slipping in the opening race, prompting emergency remedial work by Chester’s ground staff.A few minutes earlier, Maureen Haggas, assistant to her husband, William, at one of Newmarket’s biggest stables, had scratched Morshdi, the second-favourite, from the Dee Stakes, the day’s big Derby trial.
Tom Marquand, the stable’s No 1 jockey, had reported the ground to be “dangerous”, Haggas said on ITV Racing, and had stood himself down for the rest of the day.So it was a testament to the frantic efforts of the grounds team that, albeit more than an hour late, the remaining six races on the card eventually went into the form book.Marquand also revised his earlier decision and rode in the final two races.An abandonment on Thursday would have been a huge blow, both financially and reputationally, to a venue that is still building back having lost its May festival to Covid in 2020 before running behind closed doors a year later.The total attendance for the May festival in 2019 was 53,000, but the four meetings since full crowds were restored in 2022 have averaged 34,500.
That is a 34% decline, and 44% down on the 62,000 who crammed into the stands and infield 15 years ago,The crowds are coming back, albeit slowly,Louise Stewart, Chester’s chief executive, expects a rise of around 6% this year, building on a 10% boost in 2025, and was relieved on Friday that no refunds were necessary on Thursday,“We’ve got a brilliant clerk [of the course, Eloise Quayle] and grounds team here at Chester, some of them have been here for over 45 years and their fathers before them,” Stewart said,“They know every blade of grass on the track and they know how to prepare ground for the May festival and how it runs.
I think the delay was unprecedented and I’m really proud of what the team were able to deliver and proud of the response.”If there was a positive to be taken from Thursday’s events, it was possibly the huge cheer from all corners of the track that greeted the announcement that racing would continue as planned.No one was hoping for a refund.“You heard the roar,” Stewart said.“People are here for the racing, and also for a good time, and Chester manages that balance really well.
”This is a course where the crowd and setting are integral to the experience – to a greater extent, perhaps, than at any other major track.The tight, turning course with a sharp descent to a short home straight, below Roman walls where hundreds watch for free, is simply unique, and officially dates to 1539, giving it the Guinness Book of Records seal of approval as the oldest still-operational racecourse on the planet.As Stewart points out, changes to the course’s licensing, reducing the extent to which alcohol can be brought into the track’s centre enclosure by picnickers, have affected crowd numbers, while there is also an increased sale of “premium” tickets to offset the overall decline.On the track itself, meanwhile, the May meeting’s trials for the Classics at Epsom next month have been performing brilliantly in recent years.The two Classic trials on Wednesday’s card – the Chester Vase and the Cheshire Oaks – completed a rare double in 2025 as the winners, Lambourn and Minnie Hauk, both followed up at Epsom.
There is a real chance that Chester will pull off the double once again, as Benvenuto Cellini, the Vase winner, and Amelia Earhart, who took the Cheshire Oaks, are now the clear favourites for the Derby and Oaks respectively,Constitution River’s seven-length win in Thursday’s Dee Stakes, meanwhile, was described by the much-respected Timeform organisation on Friday as “one of the very best performances in a Classic trial for many a year”,All three horses are likely to be adverts for the May meeting’s trials as the rest of the Flat season unfolds, much as Minnie Hauk was in 2025 as she reeled off three Group One wins before finishing runner-up in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe,“Great horses have been performing brilliantly on this track,” Stewart said,“That’s a great headline for racing and its future, it’s all about the horses and jockeys.
”The high-numbered stalls are generally the place to be on the straight seven-furlong course at Ascot and there is also plenty of pace drawn mid-to-high in the Victoria Cup Handicap at Ascot on Saturday, which points towards another big run from Hickory (2.20) and Saffie Osborne, last year’s winners, from stall 17.Hickory has a fine record at Ascot, with two wins and five more runs into the frame from nine starts on the straight course, and Osborne has been a key part of that form, both for his former trainer, James Fanshawe, and now her father, Jamie.The eight-year-old is now on a career-high mark but he should get the tow into the race he needs from several high-drawn front-runners, and Osborne is a past-master at delivering him with a perfectly timed run.Lingfield 12.
55: Olivia Tubb is excellent value for her 5lb claim and that could tip the balance in favour of Sweet Reward after a promising return to action in a well-run race at Epsom last time.Haydock 12.45 Lord Snootie 1.15 Frontier Prince 1.48 Plan De Stan 2.
30 Barbury Boy 3.05 Mohaaraj 3.40 Lake Forest 4.15 City CaptainLingfield 12.55 Sweet Reward 1.
28 Romantic Symphony 1.58 Maltese Cross 2.40 Royal Velvet 3.15 Apotheosis 3.50 Assaranca 4.
25 BirkenheadAscot 1.10 Night In Vegas 1.45 Zgharta (nb) 2.20 Hickory (nap) 2.55 Valedictory 3.
30 Waterford Castle 4.05 Naga 4.40 Lord RoxbyNottingham 1.38 Angel Sense 2.08 Lighting Thunder 2.
50 Valkyrie Storm 3.25 Winston’s Warrior 4.00 Komorkis 4.35 Go Lockers Go 5.10 Gentle WarriorHexham 3.
20 Tap Tap Shamie 3,55 Conquer The Breeze 4,30 Gold Clermont 5,05 Eagles Rock 5,42 Monaco Rules 6.
15 Scots Poet 6.47 Breadalbane LassLeicester 5.25 Thunda Struck 5.55 Masked Warrior 6.25 Mumayaz 6.
55 Johnny Boom 7.25 Zubaru 7.55 Oasis Sunrise 8.25 TonalWarwick 5.35 Carpe Diem 6.
07 So Proud 6,37 Blue In The West 7,07 Three Pikes 7,37 Walkin Out 8,07 Legend D’AiryHaydock 1.
15: Fergal O’Brien’s Frontier Prince is an interesting each-way option in first-time cheekpieces after running a close fourth in a similar contest over track and trip last month.Lingfield 1.28: Romantic Symphony is the only filly among the five runners for the Oaks Trial that is not currently entered for the Oaks at Epsom next month, but a supplementary may well be forthcoming if she extends her unbeaten record to three.Ascot 1.45: The lightly raced Zgharta made her handicap debut over this track and trip at the Royal meeting last year and ran a fine race to finish within three-and-a-half lengths of the winner, form that gives her an obvious chance from just 1lb higher in the weights.
Lingfield 1.58: All six runners in the Derby Trial have an entry for the Epsom Classic and Maltese Cross could be the one to book his place in the field, as William Haggas’s stoutly bred colt needed every inch of the 10-furlong trip to win at Newbury last time.Lingfield 2.40: Royal Velvet fully deserves this crack at a Group Three after posting a fresh career best in handicap company at Newmarket’s Craven meeting.Ascot 2.
55: John & Thady Gosden’s Valedictory was narrowly beaten at odds-on on his handicap debut over 10 furlongs at Newbury but showed more than enough to suggest this step up to a stiff mile-and-a-half will suit.Lingfield 3.15: At least some of Apotheosis’s quirks have been ironed out by the application of a hood and was a winner at this track as a three-year-old.
Labour loses control of Birmingham city council after 14 years of leadership
The Labour party’s 14-year leadership in Birmingham has come to an end after Reform, Greens and pro-Gaza independents made significant gains in the UK’s second-largest city.No party has yet won an overall majority at Birmingham city council, one of Europe’s largest local authorities, with the results reflecting wider political fragmentation across England.Labour lost hundreds of council seats in England, many to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which made big gains across the Midlands and the north as well as taking seats from the Tories in the south.Labour was expected to take significant losses in the all-out elections in Birmingham, where 101 seats were up for grabs. The council has been plagued by a series of problems in recent years, from the declaration of bankruptcy in 2023, subsequent cuts to local services and the ongoing bin strike – images of rubbish piled on the city’s streets have made headlines across the world
Cracks showing for Labour close to backyards of Starmer’s top team
Keir Starmer hates to lose. Unsurprisingly, he refused to walk away and end his premiership as Labour’s local election losses began to trickle in on Friday morning. Upon entering Downing Street in July 2024 after leading Labour to a historic general election victory, Starmer promised the public that his government would “fight every day until you believe again”.Now, Starmer is faced with the uncomfortable truth that the frustrated yet united coalition that brought him into No 10 hoping for change is completely fractured and its discontent cannot be dismissed as early midterm blues.The cracks are showing very close to the political backyards of Starmer and his top team
Plaid Cymru wins Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour control
Plaid Cymru has won the Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour dominance in Wales and blocking the momentum of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.The leader of the centre-left Welsh nationalist party, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said he stood ready to become first minister and form the next Welsh government, taking over from Welsh Labour, who have governed in Wales since devolution began in 1999.The Plaid win makes a Welsh independence referendum a future possibility, and means all three of the UK’s Celtic nations will now be controlled by separatist parties.Reform UK came second, pushing Labour into a distant third place. Plaid won 43 seats, Reform 34, Labour nine, the Conservatives seven, Greens two and Liberal Democrats one
Badenoch claims Tories ‘coming back’ despite widespread losses in local elections
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that the Conservatives are “coming back” after winning back Westminster council from Labour in London, despite her party suffering significant losses throughout England in Thursday’s elections.The party also saw off a threat from Reform UK in Bexley. But the Tories suffered a series of losses in Essex, where Badenoch herself is an MP, losing 41 seats while Reform gained 52. They held on to Harlow, securing all 11 district council seats available.In Havering, where the Conservatives had 14 councillors before the election, the party was wiped out
Zack Polanski calls two-party politics dead after mayoral and council wins
Zack Polanski has declared Britain’s two-party politics “dead and buried” as his Green party won its first two mayoral elections and gained councillors across England, winning four councils outright.As Labour losses piled up across the country and the Conservatives endured another disappointing set of results, Polanski sought to present his party as emerging from the results as the most viable option for opponents of Reform.“It is very clear that the new politics is the Green party versus Reform,” he said.Speaking at the Hackney count centre in east London, the scene of the first mayoral success, he added: “I said that the Green party were going to replace Labour. That’s exactly what we did in Gorton and Denton, it’s what we’ve done in Hackney, and we’re seeing that right across the country
Lord Beecham obituary
Jeremy Beecham, who has died aged 81, was an outstanding figure in local government as the Labour leader of Newcastle city council from 1977 to 1994.He built on the work of his immediate predecessors in restoring faith in the integrity of the council following the corruption of the T Dan Smith era, and guided it through the unfamiliar territory of collaboration with the new Tyne and Wear county council.He and his team focused on the basic local government responsibilities of council housing, education and social services – the latter his special interest. Initially these priorities led him to allow council staffing levels to run out of control. As a reporter for the Newcastle Chronicle throughout his leadership, I noted in 1978 that the council was employing more than 18,000 people: in the very different circumstances of 2025, the number of full-time equivalent posts was below 7,000
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