![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Chester-Races.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAidan O’Brien’s five-year-old lands the Group Three contest on day two of the Boodles May Festival and is set to defend his Coronation Cup title at Epsom while McMurray also scored on the Roodee<\/p>\n
17:07, 07 May 2026Updated 17:12, 07 May 2026<\/p>\n
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Ryan Moore and Jan Brueghel winning the Ladbrokes Ormonde Stakes on Ladies Day at the 2026 Boodles Chester May Festival at Chester Racecourse on Thursday, May 7 2026(Image: Alan Crowhurst\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Jan Brueghel (5-6 favourite) is on course to defend his Coronation Cup crown at Epsom next month after a fine victory in the Group Three Ladbrokes Ormonde Stakes on day two of the 2026 Boodles Chester<\/a> May Festival.<\/p>\n The five-year-old son of the great Galileo gave his Ballydoyle handler O\u2019Brien a record-extending eighth success in the 1m5\u00bdf Group Three contest beating Mount Atlas by two-and-a-half lengths with defending champion and stable-mate Illinois a further two-and-three-quarters-of-a-length back in third.<\/p>\n Jan Brueghel had also defeated Illinois in the 2025 St Leger and latter made much of the running on the Roodee as the winner sat further back, waiting to make his move under Ryan Moore. Jan Brueghel \u2013 on his first start since finishing fourth to Calandagan in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot in July last year \u2013 was always travelling well despite being trapped on the rail behind horses. But he came through to collar Illinois and move clear of his rivals. The Andrew Balding-trained Mount Atlas (10-1) came through under Oisin Murphy having been sat at the back of the pack. But he was two-and-a-half lengths adrift of the winner at the line<\/p>\n Jan Brueghel is now set for another clash with French superstar Calandagan, who he beat in the Coronation Cup 12 months ago, back at Epsom on June 6. Calandagan remains the 6-4 favourite with most bookmakers to come out on top this with Jan Brueghel 5-2 with the majority of firms to win the Group One prize on June 6 for a second time.<\/p>\n O’Brien was not on the Roodee, but told the Press Association: “We were very happy, obviously he hadn’t run for a long time and the plan was to go back to Epsom with him after this. He enjoyed Epsom last year in the Coronation, he was very good there last year so it makes sense to go back there. Obviously Coolmore sponsor it now as well so that’s nice.”<\/p>\n Paul Smith for the Coolmore partners said: “Ryan was delighted with him. He’s talented and I loved the way he grabbed the bridle there about two out and quicken through the horses. It was good to see him back. The Coronation will be next for him. You had the little hiccup you heard about from Aidan, but he’s come back fine now and he was in good shape there today. He’s a great horse to have around, he’s a character as you can see there. A beautiful individual, he’s very talented.”<\/p>\n Moore said: “He has a good record. He’s obviously a Leger winner, he won a Coronation. Things went wrong for him in the King George and it was nice to get him back today in good form.”<\/p>\n Illinois is likely to return to Royal Ascot<\/a> for the Ascot Gold Cup, a race he was second to Trawlerman last year as well as finishing runner-up to another stable-mate Scandinavia in the Goodwood Cup at Glorious Goodwood<\/a>. He is 16-1 with Labrokes and Betfred behind bet365’s 2-1 favourite, stable-mate Scandinavia. Last year’s Gold Cup winner the John and Thady Gosden-trained Trawlerman is 10-3 with William Hill to defend his crown.<\/p>\n Smith added: “There’s an option for Illinois to go for the staying races, a mile and a half upwards.”<\/p>\n Mcmurray, ridden by Billy Loughnane (centre, yellow silks with black dots), on the way to winning the Xenon Workplace Handicap on Ladies Day at the 2026 Boodles May Festival at Chester Racecourse on Thursday, May 7 2026(Image: Martin Rickett\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n Trainer George Boughey and jockey Billy Loughnane \u2013 fresh from Bow Echo’s scintillating success in the Betfred 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday \u2013 grabbed victory on the Roodee with McMurray (13-8 favourite) in the Xenon Workplace Handicap.<\/p>\n In the same yellow and black-spotted colours of the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid as Bow Echo, the three-year-old Mehmas colt wonhis last three starts of last season at Ffos Las, Doncaster and Yarmouth. McMurray return to action with another victory in the 7\u00bdf contest beating Monarch’s Glen (6-1) by a neck with Cool Molly (12-1) a further length-and-a-quarter back in third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aidan O’Brien’s five-year-old lands the Group Three contest on day two of the Boodles May Festival and is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[38618,263651,205154,288,1071,46788,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-944172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-chester-races","9":"tag-glorious-goodwood","10":"tag-haydock-racecourse","11":"tag-horse-racing","12":"tag-racing","13":"tag-royal-ascot","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116534270100046185","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mcmurray,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0_Ladies-Day-Boodles-May-Festival-Chester-Racecourse.jpg\")
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