Evan Williams is backing Ffos Las Racecourse to put on a real show on Sunday – even though it will host the DragonBet Welsh Champion Hurdle for the final time.
One of the most anticipated races in the Welsh calendar takes place on October 13 as part of a big Welsh weekend of racing to welcome in the new jumps season.
The Welsh Champion Hurdle has a proud history of unearthing horses who go on to become formidable chasers, but this will be the last year the race is held at Ffos Las before it moves to sister course, Chepstow.
Next year, the race will be part of a three-day opening weekend festival all at the same Monmouthshire venue.
“Ffos Las has done a fantastic job with the Welsh Champion Hurdle and made it a real niche attraction,” says leading Welsh trainer Williams, who could have as many as four entries in the race.
“It’s disappointing it’s moving, but there you are. It’s certainly no reflection on Fos Llas which has done brilliantly in re-inventing this race.
“It had that glory day tradition, with horses like Sea Pigeon and Night Nurse, but that was back in the day when it was run in the spring time. So, I think Ffos Las deserves a lot of credit in making it a different type of race, but still a very worthy one, held in October.”
Last year’s Welsh Champion Hurdle was won by Nemean Lion after the joint-favourite saw off a late challenge from Anyharminasking.
This year, Nemean Lion is back to defend his crown, with jockey Richard Patrick hoping to make it back-to-back triumphs for trainer Kerry Lee.
The most likely Welsh challenge for home glory could come from jockey Sean Bowen, who rides the Olly Murphy-trained, Go Dante.
Pembrokeshire jockey Bowen is currently neck-and-neck with Harry Skelton as the pair battle it out at the top of the Jump Jockeys Championship.
A victory in front of home fans would be a great way to start the Welsh jump season for Bowen, who has two rides on Sunday, with Pittsburg in a later handicap chase at 5.05pm.
Go Dante was very competitive in several big handicap races last season, but will face competition from another Welsh connection, Steel Ally, trained by Vale of Glamorgan-based Sam Thomas and ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies.
As for Williams, he had four early declarations for the race – Dans le Vent, Carbon King,
Patriotik and Wewillgowithplanb.
Kitty’s Light – trained by Welsh trainer Christian Williams – is being lined for Saturday’s meeting at Chepstow, part of a three-day mini-festival of racing in Wales, that begins with the Jump Season Opener meeting at Chepstow on Friday.
Phil Bell, regional director for Chepstow and Ffos Las’s parent company Arc, said: “The Unibet jumps season opener has proved popular with owners and trainers and has also been well received by our customers as the start of the winter campaign.
“Last year two Cheltenham Festival winners – Unexpected Party and Chianti Classico – made their seasonal debuts, which emphasises the quality of the meeting.
“It feels fitting that the fixture now expands to three days to incorporate the Dragonbet Welsh Champion Hurdle, which in its heyday at Chepstow attracted the likes of Sea Pigeon, Night Nurse and Beech Road.”
