FORTUNE EYES A REPEAT WIN
GLORY And Fortune is on course to defend his Welsh Champion Hurdle crown this weekend.
Last year’s winner was one of 13 entries unveiled yesterday for the biggest race in Ffos Las’s calendar, which takes place on Sunday.
The contest is worth £50,000 and is sponsored for the first time by Dragonbet.
Glory And Fortune, who won this race by four lengths at odds of 11-2 in 2021, was one of the mostimproved hurdlers in training last season.
He used success at Ffos Las as a springboard as he later landed the valuable Betfair Hurdle at Newbury before finishing a fine fifth in the Champion Hurdle itself at the Cheltenham Festival.
But the seven-year-old, trained by Tom Lacey, faces a tough task if he is to triumph in Wales’s most prestigious hurdle race for the second year running.
Among his possible rivals are Allmankind from the powerful Dan Skelton stable.
The six-year-old has won twice at the highest level and would come here on something of a retrieval mission after losing his form slightly over fences last season.
Milkwood, who won the Scottish Champion Hurdle in 2021, could also feature.
The Nicky Henderson yard is represented by Time Flies By, while the talented Adagio is also entered, though he appears more likely to run on the flat at Newmarket on Saturday.
There are two Welsh hopes, Current Mood and Zambezi Fix.
Current Mood’s trainer, Llancarfan-based Evan Williams, knows all about success in this contest, having tasted victory four years ago with Silver Streak.
Zambezi Fix hails from the Caerphilly yard of Bernard Llewellyn and appears to be something of an outsider, having not won for two and a half years.
The Donald Mccain-trained See The Sea, a winner of nine races over hurdles, looks set to be the sole northern raider.
The Welsh Champion Hurdle has a rich history. It was staged at Chepstow until 2002, with its winners including the likes of hurdling greats Bula, Sea Pigeon and Night Nurse.
Since its resurrection in 2010, the roll of honour features Oscar Whisky, The New One and Silver Streak, who have all been successful at the top level.
Its chief supporting race is the Dragonbet Norton’s Coin Trophy Novices’ Handicap Chase, a race run in honour of the horse trained in Nantgaredig by dairy farmer Sirrell Griffiths who shocked the racing hierarchy by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup at odds of 100-1 in 1990.
The seven-race card gets under way at 1.25pm.
Chepstow and Ffos Las executive director Phil Bell said: “I am delighted with the quality of entries for this year’s £50,000 Dragonbet Welsh Champion Hurdle.
“It would be fantastic if last year’s winner Glory And Fortune could make it back-to-back victories.
“It’s also great to see the 2021 Scottish Champion Hurdle winner Milkwood among the entries.
“Bernard Llewellyn and Evan Williams fly the flag for Wales with Zambezi Fix and Current Mood entered and if either of those horses were to win, it would be a fairytale story for the race”.*