The trophy – and the 30lb Cheshire cheese that comes with it – were handed to Alan Peterson, the owner of Zoffee, after the Chester Cup here on Friday, but it was a sign of how much this unique race means to the locals that Michael Owen, the landlord of Manor House Stables where Zoffee is trained by Hugo Palmer, was celebrating as if he had just scored the winner in an FA Cup final. “That’s pretty much a lifelong dream to win that race,” Owen said. “I said to the owner before the race: ‘I know it’s your horse, but they’re all mine at Manor House,’ that’s how it feels.”
Victory for a yard that was built from scratch by one of Chester’s most famous sons was, in many respects, the ideal result in a race that marked the Chester Cup’s 200th anniversary.
