The Racing Post’s James Stevens on a busy week in Welsh racing despite the weather.
Wales’ stables and racecourses were battered by Storm Darragh over the weekend but it still proved to be a good week for the country, in particular for Ben Jones again.
His ride The Jukebox Man announced his Cheltenham Festival credentials with a smart performance at Newbury last weekend and Handstands proved the latest when putting in a good round of jumping to win Sandown’s Grade 2 Esher Novices’ Chase on Friday.
The five-year-old was called an “absolute monster” by his trainer Ben Pauling at the start of the season but fell on his chase debut at Wincanton. This effort, though, was far more encouraging as he pulled clear of the favourite Resplendent Grey by three and a half lengths.
The Pauling-Jones duo also teamed up to win with It’s Hard To Know at Market Rasen on Thursday.
There was another Welsh winner at Sandown’s two-day Tingle Creek fixture as Razzle Dazzle Boy won for Tim Vaughan and Alan Johns in the 2m novice handicap hurdle.
Championship update
Sean Bowen remains just one winner shy of a century going into the week but he still remains on top in the race to be champion jockey,
Harry Skelton, leading the chase in second, had a good week to close the gap to five thanks to a Saturday treble at Sandown as well as winners around the country.
Bowen had two winners this week. It kicked off at Leicester with Trust House in a low-grade contest at Leicester before Diamonds For Luck won like a horse with good potential when winning a novice hurdle at odds of 4-9 at Wetherby on Saturday.
National focus
Chepstow’s Saturday card, which features the Welsh Grand National trial, was a victim of the weather this weekend but there was still some clues for Wales’ biggest race.
At Sandown, Mr Vango was cut to 7-1 favourite with DragonBet for the big race on December 27 after producing a brave jumping display to win the London National in his warm up for Chepstow.
He is trained by Wantage-based Sara Bradstock who, along with late husband Mark prepared Coneygree to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice in 2015.
The Sam Thomas-trained Jubilee Express remains the best chance of a Welsh winner according to DragonBet at 14-1.
