Leading racing figures laud Chepstow in centenary year From Bonanza Boy to Dream Alliance and beyond, the stories will run and run as Chepstow Racecourse turns 100 years old and celebrates its centenary. Ever since Lord Harewood’s Conca D’Oro won on August 6, 1926, the undulating acres of Piercefield Park just across from the English border has been the backdrop for some of the greatest moments in Welsh sporting history. It is a plot of Monmouthshire land that served the war effort between 1939 and 1945 when Wellington bombers and Hurricane fighters used a grass runway laid by the Royal Air Force, yet is more familiar with the sound of galloping hooves and grandstand cheers that roared the great Sir Gordon Richards to 11 consecutive winners over a two-day meeting in 1933. National Hunt racing arrived in 1927 just months after the 370-acre estate had opened for business and, although Chepstow retains its dual Flat and jumps identity, it is its chase course it is known the world over. Ely Racecourse in Cardiff had held the Welsh Grand National from its inauguration in 1895 to 1939, with the race moving to Chepstow in 1949 with future bestselling novelist Dick Francis aboard the winner, Fighting Line. The post-Christmas race has simply got bigger and bigger with Bindaree, Corbiere, Earth Summit, Rag Trade and Silver Birch among those to complete the Aintree and Chepstow double. Burrough Hill Lad, Cool Ground, Master Oats and Native River have proven their pedigree at Chepstow before Cheltenham Gold Cup glory. “You’ve got fight your way in and fight your way out on Welsh National day,” said 14-times champion trainer Paul Nicholls, who guided Silver Birch and L’Aventure to wins in 2004 and 2005 and also won the big race as a jockey on Playschool in 1987. “It’s always been won by good horses and Chepstow is just a great place to come to. My first memory was in a hunter chase at the start of my career at 16 or 17 on a horse called Energy Saver and Nigel Twiston-Davies actually beat me. “To win the Welsh National, and living locally, was a brilliant day – the first big winner I rode. I had a real battle with Rhyme ‘N Reason over the last three fences and he went on to win the (Grand) National.” Martin Pipe also wrote his name into Chepstow folklore with five Welsh National winners in six years between 1988 and 1993, starting with Bonanza Boy’s double and including Run For Free’s 1992 success when the Somerset handler trained the first four home. “It’s one my favourite courses,” said Pipe. “I’ve had lots of winners here and it’s a special place. “I remember coming here for first time to put the saddle on. I didn’t know what to do when I started training and thought I’d and watch Fred Winter put the saddle on a horse. I wanted to see how it was done properly and, of course, a head lad did it, but it really helped me.” Chepstow hit the big screen when Dream Alliance’s 2009 Welsh National victory was told in the 2020 film ‘Dream Horse’. It is the story of how a small Welsh syndicate invest in a foal that overcomes serious injury through hours of surgery and stem cell treatment to triumph at Chepstow. “It was a real fairy story,” said Jan Vokes, the barmaid and supermarket worker who had the idea of raising a racehorse on her allotment near Blackwood. “Dream Alliance was working class like us, he came from nowhere. He was just a special horse.” Chepstow continues to serve up great stories with reigning champion jump jockey Sean Bowen emulating his brother James’ 2017 Welsh Grand National victory last December, winning on Rebecca Curtis’ Welsh-trained Haiti Couleurs. Bowen said: “The numbers have been incredible (at Chepstow) and I’m a very lucky boy. It was incredible to win the Welsh race, in my home country.” Welsh racing is booming right now with successful jockeys and trainers galore – and Chepstow plans to be central to the action for another 100 years.
