Casting an eye towards our National icons

THE jump racing season finally started last week behind closed doors at Southwell.

The delayed resumption meant there were large numbers of owners looking to run their horses and as a result there were nine races with a maximum field of 12 in each.

Although Welsh trainers and jockeys were represented, they failed to hit the scoresheet.

Olly Murphy took the headlines by sending out four winners, with two ridden by Richard Johnson.

Summer jumping is now an accepted part of the sport, but is viewed by many traditionalists as very different from the winter game when the mud is flying.

Ffos Las hold jump racing every month of the year apart from August and September with the feature race, the Low Cost Vans Welsh Champion Hurdle, in October. The second richest race is the West Wales National Handicap Chase over three-and-a-half miles which is run on Easter Monday.

It has been transferred from its original early February date in order to avoid the heavy going customary at that time of year.

The popular Carruthers won the inaugural race in 2013. He was bred by the late Lord Oaksey and trained by his sonin-law Mark Bradstock. Carruthers had won the 2011 Hennessy Gold Cup, and although his form tailed off after that he bounced back with a win at Ffos Las on Boxing Day 2012 and proved his liking for the track with a pillar-to-post victory in the West Wales National five weeks later.

Venetia Williams is renowned for her heavy-ground performers and her Emperor’s Choice was made 9-2 favourite for the 2014 race. He relished the conditions and stayed on well to win by eight lengths.

Bob Ford tried again in 2015 and, though unfancied at 16-1, he was able to set his own steady pace. One by one his toiling rivals pulled up in the testing going. Only one other runner completed the course.

The Dan Skelton-trained The Bay Oak won the 2017 renewal and in 2018 Pembrokeshire trainer Peter Bowen took the prize with Henry Parri Morgan. Last year, Pobbles Bay was the winner for Evan Williams.

There is flat racing behind closed doors at Chepstow this Thursday.