METIER SEALS CHESTER CUP SUCCESS

Metier produced a thrilling late charge in the colours of Gary Stevens to gain a brilliant victory in the Chester Cup on Friday 12 May with the help of an inspired ride by Saffie Osborne.

He is one of those horses that cannot have the ground too deep so every drop of rain that fell on the tightly turning track over the past few days was ideal for him. But a draw out wide in stall 14 made life difficult for Saffie who had to sit and suffer for much of the race before switching him wide to deliver the searing run that took him to the front in the last couple of strides.

It was a wonderful way to enjoy my first visit to Chester and a relief to land a big prize in front of ITV’s cameras after some frustrating near misses over the past few months.

Having landed the November Handicap at Doncaster on the final day of the 2022 flat season Metier has now added another significant handicap to his CV.

We now have more options for him over long distances and I’ll him keep him ticking over for the next six weeks in case we get testing ground at Royal Ascot where he will have entries in the Ascot Stakes and Queen Alexandra Stakes.

It means a lot to be winning races at top meetings like Chester because it demonstrates that we can do the job under both codes. A lot of the credit must go to our hard working team at home and my wife Ciara who rides him most days.