We have a short break before our next meeting on Tuesday 31st January. We are keeping our admission prices extremely keen for this fixture with tickets just £15 in advance and £19.50p on the day. There is also a Day At The Races package for £19.50p which includes admission, a drink, a pie and a race day programme (this is a limited offer and for advance bookings only). See the website for details of how to book.
Sean Bowen produced one of the rides of the season at our opening meeting of 2023 last Thursday. Riding Best Trition for trainer Olly Murphy and owners Foxtrot Racing, he jumped the last fence in the 3m chase in second place three and a half lengths behind the leader Dentley De Mee who looked to be heading for victory on the testing ground. However, Sean had other ideas and with a never say die ride, galvanised his mount on the run-in to win by a short head. Our photo shows the successful combination with very happy owners.
There was no shortage of runners at Chepstow’s meeting on Sunday, where the going was soft.
Several Welsh-trained and ridden runners competed in the opening 2m4f novice hurdle and it was Richard Patrick who came out on top, aboard the favourite, Kerry Lee’s Atlanta Brave. This Irish point winner’s stamina served him well, overtaking Sam Thomas’s Ed Keeper on the run-in – which on the hurdles track was only 120 yards today.
Evan Williams’ Zero Tolerance, bearing the Silver Streak colours, led for most of the race and though he faded back into fourth it was a promising effort. The stable was pleased with the second-place finish of L’Astroboy in Saturday’s Grade 1 Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown, ridden by Adam Wedge. They finished only two and a half lengths behind the winner Tahmuras. A length away in third was Nemean Lion, representing the in-form Lee-Patrick combination.
The 2m4f chase was won in gallant front-running fashion by Moonlighter, owned by the Welshmen Huw and Richard Davies & Friends, though trained in Gloucestershire by Kim Bailey. He jumped well and rallied gamely when headed on the run-in, probably feeling the benefit of a recent wind op.
Evan Williams and owners William and Angela Rucker introduce many of their good horses at Chepstow. Their dual bumper winner Libberty Hunter got off the mark over obstacles in the 2m novice hurdle, putting a scruffy round of jumping last time behind him. Ridden confidently by Adam Wedge, he held of the runner-up by a fairly comfortable length and a quarter. The second had won a similar race by 21 lengths on his previous outing, and with the rest of the field trailing in at long intervals the form looks good.
Racing on the all-weather tracks bubbles along and David Probert has been riding at the top of his game. His mounts at Kempton on Friday produced the remarkable sequence of results of 2211212. On Saturday he rode two more winners there. His main stable Andrew Balding supplied three of those five winners, and the pair were successful again at Southwell on Sunday when Probert got Berkshire Phantom home in front of a host of challengers at the climax of a 7f maiden. He said after the race that the horse would stay a mile, and is sure to improve this year. At the close of play that day seven of Balding’s last ten runners had won.
