Bowen back on song as winners fly in

IT’S been heartening to see the revival in fortunes of the Peter Bowen yard.

After two relatively quiet seasons, he’s been firing in the winners left, right and centre. His run included a treble at the Ffos Las meeting last Thursday and a double at Market Rasen the following day.

He must be relieved when looking back at his statistics in recent years.

After a winner on September 10, 2019, Bowen had one success on January 1, 2020, at Fakenham and the next wasn’t until August 5. Roll forward to the last few months and it is very much business as usual, with his big summer successes including Game Line in the Norfolk National at Fakenham, Francky Du Berlais in the Clarke Chase at Uttoxeter and Landofsmiles in the Perth Gold Cup.

In his best season – 2006-07 – he sent out 72 winners and until recently had between 36 and 69 victories every season.

But in the last two campaigns, his numbers dropped to 18 and 20 respectively. However, his return to form has seen the stable secure 18 winners already and the season has only been under way since May.

His biggest success came with the Dai Walters-owned Snoopy Loopy in the 2008 Betfair Chase at Haydock, but there are many other significant victories including Al Co in the 2014 Scottish Grand National and Always Waining, who won the Topham Chase at Aintree three years in succession.

His sons Sean and James are flying in the jockeys’ championship. They are in joint third place with 17 winners each.

Monmouthshire trainer David Evans has a fine horse on his hands in the shape of Rohaan, who won the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday.

The gelding has risen from a handicap mark of 55 to 112 following Group wins at Ascot and Haydock, and his remarkable season continued when jockey Shane Kelly brought the three-year old from last to first in the 21-runner field in the Wokingham.

It was Evans’s first victory at the prestigious meeting.

We were delighted to see spectators return to Ffos Las last Thursday. We had a healthy crowd of around 700, which is excellent given that we didn’t get the go-ahead for customers to attend from the Welsh Government until June 4.

Our next fixture is our opening flat meeting of the summer on Tuesday, July 20.

Our restaurant will be open following a change in the hospitality rules, so keep an eye on the website for options.