IT was great news for the whole of the racing industry that we were able to resume racing last Wednesday after the equine flu scare.

The media reports that the 6-day shutdown cost racing upwards of £150million, with betting firms missing out on around £2m a day, so it was a bad week for the sport as a whole. We were lucky at Chepstow to have missed no racing that week. Ffos Las racecourse lost one meeting, but have been given a rescheduled meeting on Tuesday, 26th February.

With many horses due to have their final pre-Cheltenham race around now, the British Horseracing Authority has put on extra meetings and added additional races, to cope with the demand for racing opportunities.

An important race meeting at Newbury was lost on 9th February and the feature races from that card were added to Ascot’s fixture last weekend, making a 9-race card of the highest quality. We saw lots of performances to really whet the appetite for Cheltenham’s 4-day festival which takes place from Tuesday 12th to Friday 15th March.

Multiple champion trainer Paul Nicholls saddled an unprecedented 8 winners across three racecourses, including at Ascot the King George winner Clan Des Obeaux, which ran a very impressive trial for the Gold Cup, and the exciting Cyrname which won the £150,000 Ascot Chase in breathtaking style. Incidentally, both of these horses have run at Chepstow in the past, you would have done well to pick either of them out as a future star as they were both well beaten, so there is hope for everybody!

We always like to see horses with Chepstow or Ffos Las form running well, and there were plenty of races where we had an interest over the weekend. At Ascot the striking grey Al Dancer won the big handicap hurdle, the Betfair Hurdle. He is owned by Ffos Las founder Dai Walters and he was seen in winning form at Ffos Las in November, and he won again at Cheltenham in December. He’s now favourite for the Supreme Novices Hurdle, the opening race of the Festival.

The closing race at Ascot was a mares’ bumper which was won by Silver Forever, an impressing winner of a bumper at Chepstow in November.

Over at Haydock, Paul Nicholls took the juvenile hurdle with his Triumph Hurdle hope Quel Destin. This horse was last seen winning the Coral Future Champions Finale Hurdle on Welsh National day at Chepstow.

Lisnagar Oscar, trained in Wales by Rebecca Curtis, won a very competitive novice hurdle at Chepstow on 18th January. He took a Grade 2 staying novices hurdle at Haydock on Saturday and he heads for a similar race at Cheltenham.

Also on the card at Haydock was the Grand National Trial where Coral Welsh National second Ramses De Taillee had to settle for second again, going down valiantly to Robinsfirth in an exciting finish.

Wincanton’s feature race, the Kingwell Hurdle, went to another Chepstow winner, Grand Sancy. Also trained by Paul Nicholls, this tough young horse was winning for the third time from six starts since he won at Chepstow’s Jump Season Opener meeting in October!

November Chepstow winner Glen Forsa comprehensively overturned the star turn Kalashnikov at Friday’s meeting at Sandown. Kalashnikov had been well fancied for the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham, but Glen Forsa has now leapfrogged him to a position near the top of the betting for the novices championship 2 mile chase.

Someone who was particularly pleased to see racing resume last Wednesday was Shirenewton trainer Grace Harris. She took a first runner to Musselburgh racecourse near Edinburgh and Field Exhibition ran away with the almost £7000 first prize for a mares’ handicap hurdle. That was a second win for the yard for Field Exhibition since she was claimed from Ogmore trainer Christian Williams in December.

We race again at Chepstow on Saturday, when its Super Six nations Raceday. We’ll be showing all the Six Nations action on a big screen in our fanzone marquee. Tickets are just £10 if you book in advance.