The countdown is on for next Tuesday’s £150,000 Coral Welsh Grand National, the feature race of the year at Chepstow. Thankfully spectators will be there after two years of the event taking place behind closed doors due to Covid restrictions.
Tickets are selling strongly and the weather forecast looks favourable. It’s the 50th year of Corals’ sponsorship of the race which is one of the longest commercial partnerships in sport. We are hugely grateful for their support.
To mark the 50 years of sponsorship we have been to interview some of the people closely associated with the race in the last half a century including retired trainers Martin Pipe and Jenny Pitman. Martin won it five times and Jenny three times. Their successful horses included Corbiere, Burrough Hill Lad, Bonanza Boy and Carvill’s Hill – all household names in their respective eras. Their interviews will be shown on our social media channels.
The gates open at 10am and the first race is off at 12.30pm. Tickets are available in advance and on the day but hospitality is sold out. We are advising all customers to arrive early.
The current race favourite is Quick Wave, trained near Hereford by Venetia Williams. Other horses strongly fancied are Ask Me Early, The Big Dog and The Galloping Bear. Welsh trainers have won the last three renewals and this year’s challenge (according to the betting) is led by Pats Fancy, trained in Pembrokeshire by Rebecca Curtis.
Chepstow’s opening meeting of 2023 is on Sunday 8th January. The first feature fixture is Six Nations Race Day on Saturday 25th February when we’ll be showing the Wales v England game on the big screen after racing. Tickets are just £10 in advance.
We are also racing on Mother’s Day next year – Sunday 19th March and Grand National day, Saturday 15th April.
Away from racing, don’t forget we have two fantastic concerts next summer – Lionel Richie and George Ezra are performing live on Friday 30th June and Sunday 2nd July. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster. We are still waiting to hear who will be on stage on Saturday 1st July. Keep an eye on our website.
We have an additional fixture at Ffos Las this Thursday 22nd December – it follows the abandonment of our meeting last Thursday when the course was raceable but the pipes in the stable yard froze leaving us without a water supply for the horses. The meeting was called off on horse welfare grounds.
This week’s meeting has seven races with the first one off at 12.40pm – gates open at 11am. Tickets are £10 in advance and on the day.
I’d like to wish all readers a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
