Bowen bonus as Mac Tottie tames Aintree

THE father-and-son combination of Peter and James Bowen scored their biggest joint victory by winning the Grand Sefton Chase at Aintree on Saturday with Mac Tottie.

Bowen senior has done well with his runners over the Grand National fences for many years. Mckelvey was a close second in the 2007 National, and might have won but for finishing lame.

Dunbrody Millar took the Topham Trophy that year and Always Waining won it three years in a row from 2010.

After Mac Tottie’s success race, the Haverfordwest trainer said: “We do a lot of loose schooling and we do it with three or four horses together. I think they find their own way then so they come to jump pretty well.”

The horse’s campaign will now be directed towards the Grand National.

David Probert’s winner at Doncaster on the final day of the turf season was his 150th of 2021. His previous best was 112.

It was also his 88th winner on grass, 50 per cent higher than his previous best. That’s another indicator of the better horses he has been riding, meaning more on the major turf tracks and less on the all-weather.

On a beautiful afternoon at Ffos Las on Sunday, eight of the nine runners in the three-mile chase were Welsh-trained.

Leading them home was Christian Williams’s Powerful Position who, despite running poorly in his last two races, was sent off at 100-30. He justified that support to break a losing run of 46 for Jack Tudor, who drove the horse ahead at the final fence and keep him in front.

He looks the sort who could run up a sequence of wins for his canny trainer, who is aiming Waiting Patiently at Haydock’s Betfair Chase in a fortnight and Kitty’s Light at the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury at the end of the month.

To Be Sure won the three-mile hurdle, atoning for a nasty fall here last month. Adam Wedge gave the Evan Williamstrained six-year-old a patient, confidenceboosting ride.

Bernard Llewellyn’s Zambezi Fix was going best when coming down three out in the two-mile novices’ chase. Earlier the stable’s Port Or Starboard rewarded his eachway backers by finishing second in the novices’ hurdle at 9-1.

Richard Patrick rode the winner of that race and the opener at Aintree on Saturday.

Our next fixture at Ffos Las is on Wednesday, November 17.