Sky Sports Racing presenter Alex Hammond is back from a trip to Wales and has her eye on Royal Ascot as well as this weekend's action from Chester.
After a dismal run of form, I appear not to have lost the ability to find a winner or two, and at present my confidence is reasonably high. We know in horse racing that it's best not to get too overconfident but I'm hoping the run continues until Royal Ascot at least.
The Royal week itself is full-on for me, and there are plenty of preparations to be made away from the races too with five fancy outfits to be sourced, and for a girl whose default is casual wear, I need all the help I can get!
Let's put that on the back burner for now though because I wanted to flag a horse up that won stylishly recently and is one that I think you should put in your tracker.
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Dark Shift seems to have an affinity with Ascot and his five runs there have resulted in three wins - he hasn't been disgraced in defeat either. I fancied him to run well in the Victoria Cup, but the low draw cost him that day, so I went in again at Nottingham at the weekend.
Sure enough, first day home from my holidays and he romped home. Now, he's teetering on a rating that might seem him balloted out of the Royal Hunt Cup, so I'm keeping everything crossed he gets a run.
I'm afraid he hasn't escaped anyone else's notice either and is already Sky Bet's 10/1 second favourite. He's progressing at a rate of knots though and he looks like a group performer in the future for trainer Charlie Hills.
No Moore opens door for others at Chester
I'm not going to get too immersed in Ascot just yet though, so let's look ahead to a busy weekend of racing. I'm off to Chester on Saturday for Roman Day live on Sky Sports Racing and I'm looking forward to being back on the Roodee.
There are no runners from Aidan O'Brien's stable and Ryan Moore is in action elsewhere too, so everyone else has been given the opportunity to get in on the act!
Few trainers have blazed back to form recently as well as Tim Easterby. I was in the Sky Sports Racing studio on Thursday as the Yorkshire maestro sent out a treble at his winning most track, Ripon.
He spoke to us afterwards and gave a positive mention to Boardman who runs in the feature ICM Stellar Sports Handicap at Chester on Saturday.
Now if you look up Easterby's strike rate over the past couple of weeks you may not be blown away. He sends out loads of runners and that dilutes those figures slightly.
However, at the time of writing, five of his last fourteen runners have won, with all five coming from eleven runners over two days at Ripon.
He has three runners at Chester, two coming in that feature handicap. Despite tumbling down the handicap, Devilwala is a big-priced outsider but it's worth remind ourselves that he finished 2 ¾ lengths behind St Mark's Basilica when fourth in the Dewhurst in 2020 and wasn't disgraced when fourth in the 2021 Craven.
Things have regressed since then though and he has it to prove on recent form, but if the switch to Easterby sparks a revival, he can't be completely discounted off a mark of 81.
This is his fourth start for the stable and he faces one of his easiest tasks to date given the lofty company he has been keeping. He's the sort his trainer excels with, and Boardman may have most to fear from within.
Despite that, Boardman would appear to hold the strongest chance for the yard. When I googled "tight left-handed racing circuit" hoping to find a sporting comparison for Chester's unusual configuration, Chester Racecourse was the first thing to pop up in the search.
However you describe it, the tight nine-furlong oval suits Boardman well (maybe with a name like Boardman I should compare the track to a velodrome, and it may be no coincidence that like his namesake he races in yellow!).
The equine Boardman wasn't helped by the draw at the May Festival, but with an almost perfect draw in two on Saturday, he should have more options.
He does have to defy a career-high mark here though after wins at Haydock and Thirsk this season, but he seems as good as ever and it's not an impossible task.
Fools Rush In reopposes having finished one place in front of Boardman at the May meeting. He represents Hugo Palmer who has made a solid start to his tenure at Manor House Stables (former base of Tom Dascombe).
Like the favourite he doesn't look thrown in at the weights either but should run well.
Tomfre didn't fare quite as well in that race earlier this month. He's dropping slightly in the weights, but drying conditions would appear to be going against him.
Azano will be aiming to take them along from the front and trainer David O'Meara's horses have been running well. I never seem to get runners from this yard right though, so will leave him out of my calculations.
He may be taken on for the lead by Mykonos St John who has won from the front before and has pole position in stall one. He'll need to be sharp from the gates though.
Oh This Is Us has been a star for Richard Hannon and the nine-year-old has now won over £727,000 for connections in an 86-race career.
He loves it round Chester and is well handicapped too, so write him off at your peril. I imagine the team are dreading the day he retires. He's well draw in 3.
Chester wouldn't be Chester without a Gabrial or two and Gabrial The Wire has won round here a few times. He's not badly handicapped nowadays, but a wide draw in nine hasn't helped his cause.
Pensiero D'Amour is reasonably hard to assess as he's done most of his racing in Italy. He has plenty of weight and a wide draw.
Spirit Of Light hasn't raced too many times on these shores either but is with a very capable trainer in Ian Williams so will win races. He's been shouldered with one of the worst draws in 10.
The only other horse in the line-up is Humanitarian who won over a mile, mile and a quarter and a mile and a half for former trainer John Gosden. He's drawn in 11 of 11.
In summary, Boardman is Sky Bet's 9/4 favourite and justifiably so.
Oh This Is Us is one for the shortlist at 8/1, but I'm quite tempted by the 25/1 about Devilwala given Sky Bet are offering 5 places. He'll win races this season I'm certain, but whether it will be on Saturday remains to be seen.
Balding worth keeping on side
If you look at the all-time statistics at Chester, Andrew Balding is the trainer you would want to have on side. Numerically, he hasn't had the most winners, that accolade is held by Richard Fahey with 150 winners.
However, Balding's level stakes profit is a whopping £70.60, the only trainer to return a profit in the top five.
He sends three runners up from his base in Hampshire and will be disappointed if the horsebox arrives back at Park House Stables without a winner on board.
Whist Ryan Moore temporarily wore the "King of Chester" crown at the May meeting, Franny Norton will be hoping to reign supreme with five booked rides at the Roodee.
His stats show you that the veteran rider has celebrated 141 winners round this tricky circuit from over 1000 rides, which is an impressive 73 more victories than his closest pursuer Richard Kingscote.
Granted he's had more years to accumulate those figures, but it's impressive, nonetheless. So, he has the experience, and the best of his rides looks to be the two Mark and Charlie Johnston runners in the last two races.
Sharp Combo goes at 4.55pm and should appreciate the step up in trip and Fairmac runs in the last at 5.30pm and if Franny can get him to the front from stall 4, may take some catching, although Andrew Balding might have something to say about that as he runs Teumessias Fox who holds very strong claims.
Vazire and Spirit Mixer are the other two runners for Balding with the later holding the best chance of the duo.