Coral and Chepstow racecourse announced today that the Coral Welsh Grand National on Sunday will be run in memory of the late Kim Gingell with the blessing of the Tizzard family.
Kim Gingell, the daughter of Colin and Pauline Tizzard, and sister of Joe Tizzard, tragically lost a short battle with cancer in May this year, leaving a husband David, and son, Freddie.
This year’s race has been officially changed by the BHA to “The Coral Welsh Grand National (run in memory of Kim Gingell)”
The Coral Welsh Grand National is a race that the Tizzard team have enjoyed great recent success in winning with Native River in 2016 and Elegant Escape in 2018.
Colin Tizzard said “It’s lovely that Coral and Chepstow are running the race in Kim’s memory. We’ve had some fantastic days at Chepstow on Welsh National day with Kim, and it is a very fitting way to remember her.”
Simon Clare, speaking on behalf of Coral, said “We were really keen to find an appropriate way to remember Kim, who we miss so terribly, and who played such a huge part in making our Coral relationship with the Tizzard team such a personal and successful partnership.”
“Kim’s incredible work ethic behind the scenes, was only matched by her love of celebrating the team’s successes, and the memory of her leading the singing at Chepstow with owner John Romans after Elegant Escape had won the 2018 Welsh Grand National will stay with us forever. We therefore couldn’t think of anything more fitting than to run this year’s Coral Welsh Grand National in memory of Kim, and are very grateful to the Tizzard family for giving us their blessing to do so.”
Phil Bell, Chepstow’s Executive Director, said: “We are honoured that this year’s Coral Welsh Grand National is being run in memory of Kim. The Tizzards are great friends of Chepstow and we know it is Colin’s favourite course. It is a really fitting tribute to have Kim’s name associated with the biggest race in our calendar.”