Dunlop and Bell are set to support Chester´s Classic trials next week Marcus Hosgood, racing secretary to trainer John Dunlop, revealed today that Let The Lion Roar and Mutahayya will be entered tomorrow (Saturday) for the two classic trials at next week´s Chester May Meeting. Let The Lion Roar has in his sights the £65,000 MBNA Europe Bank Chester Vase over a mile and a half on Thursday, May 6, while Mutahayya could tackle the 10-furlong £70,000 Jardine Lloyd Thompson Dee Stakes the following day. A winner of a Newmarket maiden on his racecourse bow last year, Let The Lion Roar made a successful seasonal reappearance in a 10-furlong Newbury conditions event earlier this month.'Let The Lion Roar is fine [after Newbury] and we will decide whether to go to Chester or wait as we have the option of the Lingfield Derby Trial. He´s also in a race at Newmarket on Saturday but obviously he is a doubtful runner for that,' explained Hosgood.'His win at Newbury was over 10 furlongs while the Chester Vase is over 12 - he would be suited very much by the extra two furlongs.' If Let The Lion Roar did go to Chester for the MBNA Europe Bank Chester Vase, he would be aiming to emulate his half-brother Millenary who won the same race in 2000 and then went on to take the final classic, the St Leger.Mutahayya won twice last season, including when coming home three lengths ahead of Old Malt in the Cheshire Regiment Novice Stakes at Chester in August. He looked the winner on his seasonal bow in the Listed alanbrazilracing.com Easter Stakes over a mile at Kempton on April 10, when three lengths clear in the final furlong, but a late challenge by Privy Seal denied him the spoils. 'Mutahayya got a little tired at Kempton when beaten by Privy Seal,' commented Hosgood. 'We´re going up in trip and he´s a horse that certainly has the pedigree to stay but we´ll see.'Newmarket-based trainer Michael Bell is aiming Temple Place at either the Group Three Jardine Lloyd Thompson Dee Stakes or the Group Three MBNA Europe Bank Chester Vase. The three-year-old Sadler´s Wells colt broke the track record when winning at Windsor in September and then was third to Fantastic View in the Group Three Tom McGee Autumn Stake at Ascot.Temple Place made his seasonal bow in the Listed bet365 Feilden Stakes at Newmarket on April 15, running on at the end of the nine furlongs to finish one and a quarter lengths adrift of Gold History in third place. 'Temple Place is probably going to run in either the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Dee Stakes or the MBNA Europe Bank Chester Vase - he´s very well in himself but we´ll just monitor the ground and the opposition,' said the trainer today.'He´s come out of the Newmarket race very well and I´d say he´s improved for it. He looks very well and he´s a high-class horse I think.' Bell believes that his charge will be suited by the extra distance of both races.'Temple Place will definitely improve for the step up in trip - we´ve always viewed him as a middle-distance horse. He´s a very exciting prospect.'The trainer has had two previous runners in the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Dee Stakes and one of them, Merry Merlin, was victorious in 2000 Bell´s five runners in the Chester Vase have resulted in two seconds (Ivan Luis in 1997 and Snowstorm four years later), two thirds (Persian Brave in 1993 and Maralinga two seasons later) and a fourth for Housemaster in 1999. The last named actually crossed the line first but was disqualified for interference to Lightning Arrow inside the final furlong and placed fourth.'Merry Merlin won the Dee Stakes but we´ve just been beaten twice in the Vase and Housemaster won it by four lengths and then got chucked out. So we need a change of fortune in that race, you could say.'Ed Gretton, Chester´s clerk of the course, commented: 'We are very pleased with the state of the course for the Chester May Meeting, the first racing of the year here - it is in lovely condition.'The going is currently good firm with rain expected over the next few days. The three-day Chester May Meeting starts on Wednesday, May 5.
