It is unbelievable - the figure is a conservative one really Chester chief Richard Thomas on the bumper crowd Chester course guide

Meetings at The Roodee have proved hugely popular over the years, but the latest attendance is a modern-day record.

In sun-drenched conditions. some 45,641 racegoers packed into the course - an increase of over 7,000 on the corresponding day last year.

Traffic to the course was so heavy that some runners missed their intended races.

Sun Bird did beat the traffic and his seven rivals to run out an appropriately-named winner of the Rated Stakes.

Dick Allan's star turn had in-form Paul Hanagan on board, and produced the best speed in the last half-mile to get home by three-quarters of a length from Harlestone Grey.

Allan, who hopes to run the horse in the Ebor Handicap at York later in the month, admitted his nerves had been tested on the journey to Chester.

"We came off the motorway and the signs said Chester four miles, but it took us two hours from there and we arrived only an hour before the race. The traffic was horrendous," he said.

"It could not have done him any good, but it just shows what a good horse he is, and I think there is more to come yet."

Chester chief executive Richard Thomas was delighted by the crowd, and said it was probably much higher if you included children who were admitted free.

The rest of the day belonged to Kevin Darley, who completed a treble on Barry Hills' pair Go Solo and Late Claim and the Tim Easterby-trained Santisima Trinidad.