The news we have all been waiting for

WE have finally received the news we’ve been waiting for – the Welsh Government has approved the return of spectators to racecourses in Wales. Our first meeting with customers will be Thursday, June 17, an evening jump fixture starting at 5.45pm.

Tickets are £15 and must be booked in advance – no bookings on the door. For this first meeting we will not be opening our restaurant or hospitality boxes. All customers will have to be located outside.

Despite these changes to our normal precovid race day operation, we are really looking forward to welcoming back customers for the first time since March 2020. After the meeting on June 17, we have a short break before flat racing starts on Tuesday, July 20.

The Peter Bowen stable is going great guns at the moment. They’ve had plenty of winners at Ffos Las recently, including Montanna and No Quarter Asked at our meeting last Thursday.

On Sunday they sent Landofsmiles on the 900-mile round trip to Perth and the long journey proved worthwhile when the eightyear-old won the feature race, the £25,000 Sam Morshead Perth Gold Cup. James Bowen was in the saddle for owners Jayne and Gwyn Brace. The gelding was successful at both Ffos Las and Chepstow earlier this year.

Pyledriver, a horse that couldn’t be sold for £5,000 as a foal, gave his Cardiff-based co-owners Guy and Huw Leach yet another incredible day on Friday when the fouryear-old won the Group One Coronation Cup at Epsom. The winning purse was £187,000, taking his career winnings to just under £400,000, with a career at stud no doubt ahead of him.

Friday’s meeting at Chepstow celebrates the achievements of 86-year-old local trainer Milton Bradley, who retired in January to bring a 53-year career in racing to an end.

By then he had trained 1,037 winners from his base at Sedbury, opposite Chepstow on the English side of the Wye. Though he usually only had modest horses to work with, several of those he bought were prolific winners.

Three-quarters of his winners were on the flat. Perhaps Bradley’s most famous horse was The Tatling, who he claimed for £15,000. The horse went on to win 15 more races and almost £700,000, including the 2004 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Bradley initially made his name with National Hunt horses, especially those that relished firm ground. All his friends and supporters wish him a long and happy retirement.