Punjabi set for Ffos Las Reigning champion hurdler Punjabi will be the star attraction at the revived Welsh Champion hurdle at Ffos Las on this Saturday, the 9th of January. The £50,000 grade two showcase is the first Champion Hurdle in Wales since the last one run at Chepstow in 2002. Punjabi, winner of the 2009 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, will grace the highest profile race at Ffos Las since the track opened in June. Danehill Willy, trained in Wales by Evan Williams, will be one of the home hopes in the big race. The seven-year-old has already won twice at Ffos Las, albeit in novice steeplechases rather than hurdle races, and was placed in the Swinton Hurdle at Haydock Park last spring. Phidippides, also trained at Williams' Vale of Glamorgan yard, is also set to run at the UK's newest racecourse in the two-mile contest, which is the most valuable grade two hurdle race run in Britain in January. Punjabi, trained by Nicky Henderson in Lambourn, Berkshire, was runner-up in the 2008 Champion Hurdle before going one better as a six-year-old a year later, edging out Celestial Halo and Binocular in a thrilling finish up the Cheltenham hill. He was subsequently beaten a short head by Solwhit at the Punchestown Festival before finishing fourth behind Khyber Kim, Celestial Halo and Medermit on his seasonal reappearance in the Boylesports International Hurdle at Cheltenham. The Welsh Champion Hurdle was traditionally staged in April but suffered from the twin Spring competing attractions of the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree's Grand National meeting. Colin Owens, general manager at Pembrokeshire course Ffos Las, said: "The new SIS Live Welsh Champion Hurdle offers us a showpiece race. "We are looking forward to welcoming some high-class hurdlers for what should be a tremendous day of racing on Saturday 9 January."
