Meeting this Sunday is next up at Ffos Las
OUR next race meeting at Ffos Las is this Sunday, November 6. We have seven races from 12.50pm and tickets are £17 in advance and £19 on the day.
Tomorrow (November 3) we will be celebrating the success of our sport with the ROAsponsored Welsh Horse Racing Awards taking place at ICC Wales. The categories include leading chaser, hurdler, flat horse, owner, trainer, stable staff and breeder.
Lorcan Williams had a great day at Ascot on Saturday, riding two winners, although it could easily have been four. In the race featuring the enigmatic Goshen, he was on the Paul Nicholls-trained Samarrive and going slightly better than the rival who jumped the penultimate fence alongside him. Samarrive came down and left the other one well clear.
Compensation came an hour later when he rode stablemate Thyme White to win a valuable 2m handicap chase. This horse’s form last season, 2U12F, meant an interesting ride one way or the other was almost guaranteed, but he jumped well this time and hit the front between the last two fences.
Williams looked set to complete a double in the best race on the Ascot card, a 3m handicap chase, when he drove another Nicholls horse, Danny Kirwan into the lead turning into the straight. But it was not to be, as he was outstayed by Our Power, who ran on strongly to lead half a furlong out.
The winner is owned by Dai Walters and trained by Sam Thomas, and he could now get in among the bottom weights for the Coral Gold Cup (the old Hennessy) at the end of November. Christian Williams’s Kitty’s Light was never in the hunt – this trip is below his optimum – but finished the race well enough in sixth place.
Lorcan Williams bounced back to complete his double in the bumper on Fire Flyer, a fouryear-old making his debut, having changing hands for 130,000 euros in June 2021.
David Brace’s Paint The Dream, ridden by his grandson Connor, ran a fine race in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby. He led the field into the straight but couldn’t hope to match Bravemansgame on top form and finished 13 lengths behind in fourth place. Untested over three miles, his stamina may have given out after leading for most of the second circuit.
Sean Bowen was at Ayr to ride several Gordon Elliott horses. He won on the shortestpriced one, Nonbinding, who alarmed his backers at 11/8 by scrambling home only by a neck.
Bowen was going to Wexford on Monday to ride this year’s Aintree Grand National winner Noble Yeats for the first time. His seasonal appearance at Auteuil a few weeks ago was an unhappy affair, pulling up after an early error.