Dave Massey is back for the third and final day of the Boodles May Festival 2025, with his best bet on The Roodee, as well as something at a juicy price in The Chester Cup.
Boodles May Festival 2025: Dave Massey’s Huge Friday Tips
Boodles May Festival: Certain Lad (14.35) – Back
Pity there’s not the dead eight here or he might have made the each-way shortlist instead, but with the ground probably on the quick side for Bolster, and The Foxes possibly needing the run after a short break, if George Bass can employ similar tactics on Certain Lad as he did at Longchamp last time, he might prove hard to catch.
There are a few things in Certain Lad’s favour today; the trip, which he races almost exclusively at these days, his ultra-consistency, which means he almost always runs his race, and three, he comes her fit after that terrific Longchamp run where, for a while, he looked the winner after kicking clear but was picked up by Map Of Stars, who has franked that form since by finishing a neck second in the Group 1 Prix Ganay. He goes on all ground and retains all his enthusiasm for the game at the age of nine, and can can take this at the expense of some better-fancied rivals.
Boodles May Festival: Gorak (13.30) – Take On
There’s nothing I really want to take on today, so we’ll give the lay button a rest, and instead we’ll have a couple of each-way swings at the tricky handicaps. Gorak looks a solid each-way play in the first, the 7½f handicap. He’s hit the frame the last two times he’s raced here and that includes a length third from a moderate draw here last August, where his early pace enabled him to sit near the front and not use up too much of the petrol.
He returned from his winter break with a very good half-length second to the improving Myal at Haydock last time, making most and sticking well to the task once the winner went past. That bodes well for his chances here, and with little pace among those drawn to his inside, he should be able to get track position very easily from stall 7 here.
Boodles May Festival: Divine Comedy (15.05) EW
Stall 7 looks a perfect draw for the prominent-raving Divine Comedy, and after a couple of runs in small-field events this season, she looks spot-on to run a big race today. A winner over 2m in soft ground at Haydock last spring, she bettered that form when a half-length second on very quick ground to Pledgeofallegiance in the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot on her next start, the front two going nicely clear of the rest, and that looks a strong piece of staying form.
She ran every bit as well in the competitive Skybet Stayers Handicap at York on her next start, finishing a close fifth, and with that on quick ground too, Chester’s drying conditions should hold no fears for her.
Beaten a short-head by the classy Al Qareem in the Further Flight at Nottingham first time up and then third in the Sagaro at Ascot last week shows her wellbeing, and with Kaiya Fraser, who knows the mare well, taking a useful 3lb off her back, she has a solid each-way chance and should be rewarding each-way backers today.
By Dave Massey
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