Benvenuto Cellini leads Chester Vase field in key Derby test

Benvenuto Cellini turned Chester’s tight, punishing mile and a half into a Derby statement, winning the Boodles Chester Vase by 4¼ lengths as the 2-9 favourite and strengthening the case that he is more than just an early-season name on the Epsom board.

That mattered because Chester is not a routine stop on the road to Epsom. The Chester Vase, a Group 3 for three-year-old colts and geldings over 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 63 yards, has long been one of the meeting’s two Derby trials, alongside the Weatherbys Cheshire Oaks for fillies. On a course that rewards balance, tractability and the ability to hold a position around the bends, Benvenuto Cellini did exactly what a leading Classic colt is supposed to do: he settled the argument before it could become one.

The victory also underlined why his earlier Group 2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes win at Leopardstown had carried so much weight. He had already been branded the Derby favourite off that September success, and the Chester performance showed the Leopardstown form was no mere autumn flash. Running under a penalty for that win, he still had enough class and stamina to control a five-runner race on good ground and pull clear in a way that sharpened the Epsom conversation rather than just surviving it.

For Aidan O’Brien, the result carried another layer of significance. Chester Racecourse had said he held a record 11 wins in the race before this renewal, and Benvenuto Cellini’s success extended that mark to 12. O’Brien has used Chester as a Derby springboard before, most notably with Ruler Of The World in 2013, and the 2026 result fit the same Ballydoyle pattern of using the Roodee to separate genuine Epsom horses from promising colts still learning their trade.

The race’s wider relevance was impossible to miss. Chester Racecourse pointed to last year’s twin triumphs, when Lambourn won the Chester Vase before going on to land the Epsom Derby, while Minnie Hauk completed a sweep of the Cheshire Oaks, Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks. That made 2025 the first time both Chester trial winners went on to win at Epsom in the same year, turning Trials Day into a genuine roadmap for the Classic season.

Benvenuto Cellini’s Chester win now gives the market, and the Derby picture, something firmer to work with. Chester exposed the colt’s class, confirmed his stamina, and showed that the horse being talked about as the favourite had already started to justify the label.