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Fond memories of the old Welsh Derby at Chepstow

Glorious Goodwood is for many the racing highlight of July at one of the most scenic racecourses in the UK. The view from the stands is breathtaking, with the topclass racing taking place against the backdrop of the Sussex Downs.

The Sussex Stakes and Goodwood Cup are the features of the Festival along with a host of other top-quality races. It has been a very productive meeting for Optimum Racing over the years, fingers crossed for 2020.

One race that no longer takes place in July is the Welsh Derby formally held at Chepstow, dubbed by TheWestern

Mail as the Glorious Goodwood of the West. First run in 1927 the race had a chequered existence. The first winner was Chantrey, the prize that day, 2000 sovereigns.

However, despite the decent quality of horses, The Welsh Derby and the other Welsh classics The Oaks and St Leger were simply uneconomic and when Bideford Bay won the 1935 renewal it was the last time we were to see the Welsh Derby for two decades.

The race was reintroduced at the Whitsun meeting in 1955. Jimmy Lindley won the race on Crystal Bay in 1958 after an objection. He used to love riding at Chepstow and enjoyed plenty of success there, describing it as a track with “such a grand atmosphere”.

Unfortunately, the race once again struggled to attract numbers and when Knight of the Dales walked over to take the £632 prize in 1960, the race was scrapped from the calendar.

Undeterred, the Derby returned 20 years later when the Barry Hills-trained Prince Roland beat five opponents. Pat Eddery won the race twice in the 80s, first in 1981 on the Harry Wragg- trained Six Mile Bottom and subsequently on the John Dunlop-trained Russian Roubles who beat just two rivals at odds of 1/ 4.

In between those two victories was a win for Touching Wood, who beat Diamond Shoal. Trained by Harry Thomson-Jones and ridden by Paul Cook, another jockey who enjoyed the undulating track, describing Chepstow as his favourite track.

Touching Wood, owned by Maktoum Al Maktoum, was one of the best ever winners of the race. Having previously finished runner up to Golden Fleece in the 1982 Epsom Derby, he later that season became the first horse to win both the St Leger at Doncaster and the Irish St Leger in over 50 years.

Ian Balding took the 1984 race with Young Turk, while in 1985 Assemblyman trained by Geoff Wragg beat Formaz by four lengths at odds of 7/1 with almost £7,500 going to the winner.

John Dunlop, who was a member of Chepstow racecourse and used to go there with his father, was responsible for the 1986 Welsh Derby winner, the globetrotting Highland Chieftain ridden by Geoff Baxter. Highland Chieftain did most of his racing abroad, in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Italy.

Henry Cecil saddled Primitive Rising, who had previously won at Royal

Ascot, to win in 1987, in the famous colours of Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos. Primitive Rising developed into an useful stayer on the Flat winning a Group 3 at Sandown over two miles, before being sent off favourite for the Gold Cup at Ascot as a four-year-old. On that occasion, however, he failed to trouble the judge.

The Welsh Derby was run for the final time in 1988 and won by possibly the most famous winner of all, Carroll House. Beaten a short head in the Italian Derby at Campanelle, Carroll House returned to the UK to contest the

Welsh Derby at Piercefield Park where beat Golden Wave by one and a half lengths. Carroll House enjoyed his finest hour at Longchamp in the autumn of 1989 where he beat 18 rivals to land the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe.

Although for a few years after 1988 a similar race to the Welsh Derby was staged, open to older horses, and run under various titles with the prefix ‘formerly the Welsh Derby’, the race has never been rekindled. It is a sad economic truth that regardless of the quality, small field races are rarely financially viable these days. This is a great shame as it was watching these majestic thoroughbreds “live” on his local track that caught the imagination of this impressionable teenager, who was to embark on a lifelong passion for, and years later forge a career in, the wonderful sport that is horseracing.