Last updated 11 August 2026. Winners verified against official race records.
The Welsh Grand National is the biggest day in Welsh racing, run at Chepstow over 3 miles 6½ furlongs and 23 fences, traditionally on 27 December. It’s a proper staying chase: deep winter ground, big weights, no hiding place.
This page keeps the full roll of honour, updated after every running.
Welsh Grand National winners: the full list
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Haiti Couleurs | Sean Bowen | Rebecca Curtis |
| 2024 | Val Dancer | Charlie Hammond | Mel Rowley |
| 2023 | Nassalam | Caoilin Quinn | Gary Moore |
| 2022 | The Two Amigos | David Prichard | Nicky Martin |
| 2021 | Iwilldoit | Stan Sheppard | Sam Thomas |
| 2020 | Secret Reprieve | Adam Wedge | Evan Williams |
| 2019 | Potters Corner | Jack Tudor | Christian Williams |
| 2018 | Elegant Escape | Tom O’Brien | Colin Tizzard |
| 2017 | Raz De Maree | James Bowen | Gavin Cromwell |
| 2016 | Native River | Richard Johnson | Colin Tizzard |
| 2015 | Mountainous | Jamie Moore | Kerry Lee |
| 2014 | Emperor’s Choice | Aidan Coleman | Venetia Williams |
| 2013 | Mountainous | Paul Moloney | Richard Lee |
| 2012 | Monbeg Dude | Paul Carberry | Michael Scudamore |
| 2011 | Le Beau Bai | Charlie Poste | Richard Lee |
| 2010 | Synchronised | Tony McCoy | Jonjo O’Neill |
| 2009 | Dream Alliance | Tom O’Brien | Philip Hobbs |
| 2008 | Notre Pere | Andrew Lynch | Jim Dreaper |
| 2007 | Miko de Beauchene | Andrew Thornton | Robert Alner |
| 2006 | Halcon Genelardais | Wayne Hutchinson | Alan King |
| 2005 | L’Aventure | Leighton Aspell | Paul Nicholls |
| 2004 | Silver Birch | Ruby Walsh | Paul Nicholls |
| 2003 | Bindaree | Carl Llewellyn | Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 2002 | Mini Sensation | Tony Dobbin | Jonjo O’Neill |
| 2001 | Supreme Glory | Leighton Aspell | Pat Murphy |
| 2000 | Jocks Cross | Brian Crowley | Venetia Williams |
| 1999 | Edmond | Richard Johnson | Henry Daly |
| 1998 | Kendal Cavalier | Barry Fenton | Nigel Hawke |
| 1997 | Earth Summit | Tom Jenks | Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 1996 | Abandoned (frost) | – | – |
| 1995 | Abandoned (frost) | – | – |
| 1994 | Master Oats | Norman Williamson | Kim Bailey |
| 1993 | Riverside Boy | Richard Dunwoody | Martin Pipe |
| 1992 | Run for Free | Mark Perrett | Martin Pipe |
| 1991 | Carvill’s Hill | Peter Scudamore | Martin Pipe |
| 1990 | Cool Ground | Luke Harvey | Reg Akehurst |
| 1989 | Bonanza Boy | Peter Scudamore | Martin Pipe |
| 1988 | Bonanza Boy | Peter Scudamore | Martin Pipe |
| 1987 | Playschool | Paul Nicholls | David Barons |
| 1986 | Stearsby | Graham Bradley | Jenny Pitman |
| 1985 | Run and Skip | Peter Scudamore | John Spearing |
| 1984 | Righthand Man | Graham Bradley | Monica Dickinson |
| 1983 | Burrough Hill Lad | John Francome | Jenny Pitman |
| 1982 | Corbiere | Ben de Haan | Jenny Pitman |
| 1981 | Peaty Sandy | Geordie Dun | Helen Hamilton |
| 1980 | Narvik | John Francome | Neville Crump |
| 1979 | Peter Scot | Paul Barton | David Gandolfo |
| 1978 | Abandoned (snow) | – | – |
| 1977 | Abandoned (waterlogged) | – | – |
| 1976 | Rag Trade | John Burke | Fred Rimell |
| 1975 | Abandoned (waterlogged) | – | – |
| 1974 | Pattered | Ken White | Earl Jones |
| 1973 | Deblin’s Green | Nigel Wakley | George Yardley |
| 1972 | Charlie H | Johnny Haine | Bob Turnell |
| 1971 | Royal Toss | Paddy Cowley | Tim Handel |
| 1970 | French Excuse | Terry Biddlecombe | Fred Rimell |
| 1969 | Abandoned (snow) | – | – |
| 1968 | Glenn | Eddie Harty | Fred Rimell |
| 1967 | Happy Spring | Ken White | Stan Wright |
| 1966 | Kilburn | Tim Norman | Chris Nesfield |
| 1965 | Norther | Terry Biddlecombe | D Jenkins |
| 1964 | Rainbow Battle | Paddy Broderick | Arthur Stephenson |
| 1963 | Motel | Paddy Cowley | W Lowe |
| 1962 | Forty Secrets | Josh Gifford | Earl Jones |
| 1961 | Limonali | David Nicholson | I Lewis |
| 1960 | Clover Bud | David Nicholson | G Llewellin |
| 1959 | Limonali | David Nicholson | Edward Morel |
| 1958 | Oscar Wilde | Brian Lawrence | Bill Wightman |
| 1957 | Creeola II | Michael Scudamore | Fred Rimell |
| 1956 | Crudwell | Dick Francis | Frank Cundell |
| 1955 | Monaleen | Paddy Fitzgerald | H T Smith |
| 1954 | Blow Horn | John Hunter | T Jarvis |
| 1953 | Stalbridge Rock | Bob McCreery | Harry Dufosee |
| 1952 | Dinton Lass | Alf Mullins | J Roberts |
| 1951 | Skyreholme | Arthur Thompson | Neville Crump |
| 1950 | Gallery | Alf Mullins | William ‘Rip’ Bissill |
| 1949 | Fighting Line | Dick Francis | Ken Cundell |
The race moved to Chepstow in 1949, so the list starts there. It was founded in 1895 at Ely Racecourse in Cardiff and spent a brief spell at Caerleon before finding its home. A weather note: the fixture is scheduled for 27 December, but frost and floodwater have claimed several runnings outright and pushed others into early January. The year shown is the scheduled year.
The Welsh winners
For decades the race had a habit of leaving home without the locals. That has changed.
Sean Bowen’s 2025 win on Haiti Couleurs, trained in Pembrokeshire by Rebecca Curtis, came 8 years after his younger brother James won it as a 16-year-old on Raz De Maree. Two Welsh National wins in one Pembrokeshire farming family.
Before them, Potters Corner (2019) gave Ogmore-by-Sea trainer Christian Williams the prize with 17-year-old Jack Tudor aboard, Evan Williams took it with Secret Reprieve in 2020, and Sam Thomas won it with Iwilldoit in 2021. Four Welsh-trained winners in 7 runnings.
And then there’s Dream Alliance (2009), the horse bred on a Cefn Fforest allotment and owned by a village syndicate, whose story became the film Dream Horse. Only the Welsh National could write that one.
Famous winners
The Welsh National has a reputation as a pointer to bigger things, earned honestly:
- Corbiere won at Chepstow in 1982, then gave Jenny Pitman the Aintree Grand National months later
- Burrough Hill Lad (1983) and Master Oats (1994) both went on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, as did Cool Ground (1990)
- Synchronised (2010) won the 2012 Gold Cup for Jonjo O’Neill and Tony McCoy
- Native River (2016) took the 2018 Gold Cup
- Earth Summit (1997) and Rag Trade (1976) won at Aintree too, while Bindaree (2003) and Silver Birch (2004) had already done so or would do it later
The records
Martin Pipe owns the trainer’s record with 5 wins in 6 years (1988 to 1993), including Bonanza Boy twice and the mighty Carvill’s Hill. Fred Rimell won 4. Jenny Pitman took 3 in 5 years in the 1980s.
Peter Scudamore rode 4 winners. David Nicholson rode 3 in a row from 1959 to 1961, 2 of them on dual winner Limonali. And Dick Francis, who won the first Chepstow running in 1949 and again on Crudwell in 1956, went on to become rather better known for writing thrillers.
Betting on the Welsh Grand National
It’s a stamina test first and a handicap second. Winter ground at Chepstow is rarely quicker than soft, and the roll of honour is full of mudlarks who stayed further than the trip. Course form and proven staying power count for more here than almost anywhere.
DragonBet prices up the Welsh National each year, ante-post and on the day, with our fullest coverage of any race. You’ll find current markets on our horse racing odds page as the entries take shape.
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More Welsh racing from the blog
Follow everything in our Welsh Grand National section, read our piece on Sean Bowen’s big season, or get the punter’s view of Welsh racing in our Welsh horse racing betting guide.
Sources: official race records and the Welsh Grand National roll of honour. Records correct as of 11 August 2026.
