The three-day DragonBet Welsh Racing Festival enjoyed a rousing finish as Welsh trainer-owner combination of Sam Thomas and Dai Walters triumphed again at Chepstow.

Leading Welsh trainer Sam Thomas was proud of his two horses’ efforts at the Coral Welsh Grand National even though Val Dancer emerged from the murk to seize victory. Val Dancer tenaciously held off Thomas’ dual challenge of Jubilee Express and Iwilldoit at Chepstow to win a race that was only visible at certain stages due to thick fog.

Welsh trainer Sam Thomas is hopeful Jubilee Express can prove “a special horse” by winning the Coral Welsh Grand National for him – just as Iwilldoit did three years ago. Thomas sends both horses to the start line at Chepstow on Friday with Jubilee Express most fancied to provide a home winner in Wales’ leading race in the calendar, which carries £150,000 of prize money.

Jockey Caoilin Quinn reckoned it was the best day of his life after he turned the Coral Welsh Grand National into a mud-splattered procession on Nassalam. The big race winner capped an afternoon to remember for trainer Gary Moore when showing stamina in abundance to trumph at Chepstow.

If Anyone can do it Again at the Coral Welsh Grand National, it’s Iwilldoit. If Iwilldoit wins the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on December 27, then look out for 25 co-owners celebrating like they’re keen to make up for lost time.

Tim Vaughan, Sam Thomas and Peter Bowen will bid to end over a century of pain for Welsh horse race trainers at the Grand National on Saturday.  It is 118 years since a Welsh-trained horse won the iconic race at Aintree, but if one of the trio does triumph then the roar will go around Chepstow as well as Aintree. For the first time, Chepstow Racecouse have shaped an entire day’s racing around the biggest race in the calendar, which is taking place 186 miles north in Liverpool. 

The last Welsh jockey to win the Gold Cup reckons that record may need updating before the end of this year’s Cheltenham Festival. It’s now 15 years since Sam Thomas became the last Welshman to ride to glory and win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, when he saddled the magnificent Denman to victory over great rival, Kauto Star in 2008.

Sam Thomas has admitted keeping the Coral Welsh Grand National title in Wales left him speechless with emotion. The Welsh trainer enjoyed a landmark win at Chepstow on Monday as his horse, I willdoit, came home first to ensure a Welsh-trained horse has won the showpiece race for three successive years. The victory is Thomas’s biggest career success as a trainer, his first graded victory, and the Vale of Glamorgan-based handler follows Christian Williams (Potters Corner, 2019) and Evan Williams (Secret Reprieve, 2020) as Welsh winners of the race.

The Welsh Grand National will be the only event still standing after a combination of Covid and new restrictions wiped out professional sport in Wales over the festive period. The Chepstow race meeting – Welsh racing’s showpiece event of the year – will go ahead on Monday, but behind closed doors following limits set by the Welsh Government. The fact it is happening with no spectators has more to do with TV contracts and sponsorship deals, rather than any enthusiasm for the country’s biggest racing event – a social event as much as a sporting one – to take place in front of empty stands.