Our next meeting at Ffos Las is this Wednesday 22nd March. We have seven races from 1.30pm and tickets are £15 in advance and £19.50p on the day. We then have our Superhero Family Fun Race Day on Easter Sunday 9th April where children go free and there’s plenty of free family entertainment.
Peter & Sean Bowen combined to win the televised 2m4f handicap hurdle at Uttoxeter on Saturday with Equus Dancer. He was held up, prior to coming with a strong run in the straight to lead after the last flight. Equus Dancer was challenged on the run-in, and came close to his fast-finishing rival, but the interference was marginal and he survived a stewards inquiry. He’s now won nine of his 19 races for the Bowens’ faithful owner Roddy Owen.
In a 2m4f chase later on that card Adam Wedge got Not Sure home by a nose. Kerry Lee’s seven-year-old ran on well to take the lead in the very last stride. He was winning for the second time this year.
David Evans made the journey to Wolverhampton that evening worthwhile thanks to Jacks Profit. The horse won a novice hurdle two weeks before, and showed his versatility by taking a mile and a half on the all-weather. Local jockey Jordan Williams was the man on board.
2,500 crammed into Chepstow on Sunday, mostly students, to see big fields and competitive racing.
Evan Williams’ L’Astroboy, who was second in Sandown’s Tolworth Hurdle last time out, was long odds on for the 2m3f novices hurdle, only to be outstayed by Sam Thomas’s Tzarmix. A quarter of a mile out the favourite was ten lengths ahead of him, but a slow jump at the last gave hope to Tzarmix, and he ran on strongly to score by three lengths. Some lucky punters put a total of £98 on the Dai Walters-owned winner at 999/1.
Doubles for Thomas and Walters was completed an hour later, when Shomen Uchi took the 3m maiden hurdle at odds of 11/10. The obvious form candidate cruised clear after the third last to win by 11 lengths under Charlie Deutsch.
A double for Henry Oliver might not have happened but for two Tim Vaughan runners falling at critical moments. On the first occasion Bobmahley was three lengths ahead when coming down at the last ditch. Later Bells Of Stamford was in second place, and still in with a chance, when capsizing at the penultimate fence. To rub it in, the Vaughan yard had two runner-ups on the card. They deserve a change of luck.
The final day of the Cheltenham Festival had seen victory for Welshman Bradley Gibbs, who trained and rode Premier Magic, the 66/1 winner of the Foxhunters Chase. The horse, who has won nine point-to-points, found it all too much in the 2022 race and was pulled up at halfway. This year, with cheekpieces applied for the first time in two years, he jumped well and took the lead two out. Overcoming interference from loose horses, he held off a host of fancied Irish runners to win by a length and three quarters. Gibbs, who grew up in the village of Ynysybwl in the Rhondda, has ridden about 230 point winners, most in Wales, but now trains and rides pointers in Hertfordshire
